Care home nurse given community order after distressed woman dragged from toilet and left in urine-stained bed

Bradford Crown Court heard that Mamello Herring, 55, from Leeds, and care worker Maria Jackson, 41, from Hipperholme, were working at a care home in Halifax when they forcibly moved an 85-year-old resident from the bathroom.

The woman, who suffered with dementia, was moved using a banned "drag lift" technique and was screaming and crying in distress, the court heard on Friday, January 22.

She was then left in a urine-stained bed and clothes, the court was told.

The incident came to light after her son set up a camera after he suspected his mother wasn’t being properly looked after.

Prosecutor Wayne Jackson said on December 1, 2018, Mr Lanera visited his mother and found her lying in a urine-stained bed still in her clothes from the day before.

When he checked the camera he discovered what had happened.

Herring pleaded guilty to a charge of ill treatment by a care worker.

The court heard that she expressed remorse for her offending and said she was ashamed of her conduct shown on the footage.

She was sentenced to an 18-month community order and told to do 250 hours' unpaid work for the community.

Jackson pleaded guilty to common assault and also received an 18-month community order.

Jackson’s barrister said she had been relatively inexperienced and junior at the time of the offending and that she handled a difficult situation badly and it was a great regret.

She was ordered to do 180 hours' unpaid work.

The Recorder of Bradford Judge Richard Mansell QC said “drag lifting” was specifically excluded because it was potentially unsafe never mind the indignity it involved.

He told them: "I totally reject any suggestion that either of you were not sufficiently trained or experienced to understand that.

“You had the training, however, and to drag a lady as vulnerable as her from the toilet, with her knickers around her ankles and then to manhandle her on to and up her bed, whilst she was moaning and crying in distress, is a gross failure by both of you to care for this lady.”

He accepted that dealing with such vulnerable residents was challenging, but added: "You both deserve to have lost, or to lose, your jobs because this kind of lack of humane treatment has no place in any care home setting.”

The judge said Mrs Lanera had been found by her son in urine-soaked clothing and the pair would have got away with what they had done if he had not installed the camera.

Judge Mansell said many right-thinking members of the public would consider a short sentence of imprisonment was deserved by both defendants.

But he concluded the offending had not been wilful or deliberate ill treatment.

He said it had been “grossly negligent behaviour” brought about by a lazy, sloppy failure on the part of both defendants to take their time and follow proper caring procedures in her care plan.

He added that if it had taken up to half an hour to use a Zimmer frame, chair or hoist to carefully lift Mrs Landera back into bed and get her settled, that should have happened.

He said that was the kind of care Mrs Lanera had a right to expect, but the pair had treated their resident “like an object”.

Mr Lanera attended the hearing and Judge Mansell said he was sorry that he had had to wait so long for the case to be concluded.

Judge Mansell added: “I’m sure you feel that both defendants possibly deserve more severe sentences than they have received, but at least there is some closure."