A WHISTLEBLOWER who raised concerns about care standards in a Belfast nursing home has described the treatment of his late grandmother as "barbaric".
Emmanuel McQuillan contacted the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA) last December about the care of Elizabeth (Eilish) Donnelly (75) and other dementia patients at a specialist unit in Clifton Nursing Home.
Police have confirmed they liaised with social services after receiving allegations of "mistreatment".
It followed concern about bruising on Mrs Donnelly's body the month before her death.
Mr McQuillan said: "No-one could explain to me where my granny's bruising came from. So many things had happened before then and I thought this was enough, so I reported it to police.
"Just because someone has dementia and can't speak for themselves doesn't mean it shouldn't be reported."
The well-known home, which is located close to Carlisle Circus, was banned from taking in new admissions two years ago after it failed to act on repeated warnings about practices - including inappropriate restraint of vulnerable residents.
Mr McQuillan claimed that other patients' prescribed creams were being used on his grandmother and "no dignity or respect"was afforded to her during her final days.
He said during visits he often found her with no clothes on and unsupervised for lengthy periods.
The RQIA immediately acted on his warnings and carried out a spot inspection where it confirmed failings around the use of medications, residents not being hydrated properly and poor management of incontinent patients.
Inspectors urged staff training to understand the "core values of privacy, dignity and respect" in caring for vulnerable people.
Police confirmed they had "recorded a statement of complaint about alleged mistreatment at a nursing home" in north Belfast and had notified the regulator.
"A thorough investigation was carried out and the matter was assessed as a joint investigation with social services," a PSNI spokeswoman said.
"A number of enquiries have been conducted and the RQIA has been notified."
Mrs Donnelly was first admitted to Clifton Nursing Home in December 2015 after being transferred from another home, Clifton House, due to her deteriorating Alzheimer's disease.
A catalogue of alleged care failings was reported to the home's management by Mr McQuillan.
On one occasion, another resident allegedly placed a traffic cone on her face and she couldn't breathe. The incident only came to light after a relative came to visit and found her in a distressed state.
The home, which charges £550 a week for a nursing bed, came under new management, Runwood Homes, three years ago.
Runwood has admitted to problems in the past due to a reliance on agency staff but insists improvements have been made.
Mr McQuillan told The Irish News that he had repeatedly raised problems regarding the management of his grandmother's care with senior staff at the home.
"I visited her so many times when she would have been lying with no bottoms on - the door would have been lying wide open with other patients coming in and out. There was no dignity," he said.
"Early last month a doctor told me she had only 48 hours to live. She lived for another six days and during that time me and my girlfriend took it in turns to stay with her as I had no confidence in staff.
"She was nil by mouth for all that time and we were constantly swabbing her mouth. I asked if a saline drip could be put up - it was supposed to be palliative care. It was barbaric."
During follow-up RQIA inspections earlier this year it was reported that improvements had been made.
However, the watchdog added that during the subsequent checks, concerns were flagged up about staffing problems in other parts of the home.
An RQIA spokesman said further changes were required and more inspections will take place.
Mr McQuillan said he had "no faith" in the inspection process.
"All these inspections have been made over the years but failings keep happening. I don't want what happened to my granny to happen to anyone else."
When asked about the issues raised in relation to Mrs Donnelly's care, a spokesman for Runwood Homes said it did not discuss individual cases "due to confidentiality under the Data Protection Act in relation to information about our residents and relatives".
He added: "We have a robust complaints procedure in place and all complaints are dealt with in an open and transparent way for anyone who wishes to use the procedure. We work in collaboration and partnership with other key stakeholders when this is essential."
