A mum says her seriously disabled daughter 'shut down' after being left without a bed - when her care home flooded.
Amy Kavanagh, 31, suffers from Rett Syndrome and has been a resident of Glasgow’s Haydale Care Home for seven months. She was diagnosed as a child, and her condition means that she is unable to walk or speak and has difficulties eating, as well as experiencing periods of intense distress.
During the early hours of Tuesday (January 23), the room above Amy’s flooded, causing water damage to the floor and ceiling, forcing staff to remove her from the room. Amy was moved to the living room, and her mother, Helen Carey, 58, was contacted by phone.
When Helen arrived, she sat with Amy in the home’s living area, waiting for an update on the situation – but by 4pm she still had no answers. Upon speaking with the home’s manager, Helen was told that Amy would be moved back into her water-damaged room and the door would be left open for ventilation and in case of an emergency.
Helen requested that Amy be moved to one of the six vacant beds in the home temporarily – but claims the manager refused. Terrified in case of structural damage to Amy’s room, Helen decided to take Amy home with her that night, after attempting to contact social services and multiple local care homes.
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Amy's mum says she has 'shut down' (Helen Carey / SWNS)
Amy's room was damaged by a flood on the floor above (Helen Carey / SWNS)Helen said the care home did nothing further to alleviate the situation or prevent her from taking Amy home. She said: “My daughter has Rett Syndrome, a neurological brain disorder. It comes with quite complex handicaps – she doesn’t speak, she can’t walk, and she’s dependent on care for all her daily needs.
“There’s a dementia ward above my daughter’s room, and one of the residents had a flood in the middle of the night which came through my daughter’s ceiling. I got a call early on Tuesday morning from one of the carers – not the manager – to tell me about the situation.
“When I got there, I sat in the living room with my daughter for the rest of the day. We checked her room and they said we weren’t allowed to be in there. Nobody told me anything until around 4, when I had to go and ask the manager what was happening.
“She wanted me to put my daughter back in the same room and leave the door open. I was worried about damage to the ceiling – leaving the door open won’t make a difference if the ceiling falls down. I asked the manager if my daughter could go into one of the spare rooms in the dementia unit temporarily, and she said no – but on their website, they have six vacant rooms advertised.
Damage to the ceiling from the water (Helen Carey / SWNS)“They left me with no choice but to either put my daughter in that room or take her home. I had no choice but to take her home – and they let me do it, the manager rang a taxi for me. They weren’t trying to stop me because I had no other choice. The ideal situation would have been to put my daughter in another room, and I would have happily stayed with her there, but the manager was adamant that the only room available was that one."
Helen took Amy home that night but struggled to cope with her daughter’s complex needs, as her house is not equipped with the medical equipment required for her care. After contacting Amy’s social worker in the morning, Helen returned Amy to Haydale Care Home but says she is unhappy with the handling of the situation.
“I spent the whole day calling around care homes, because that place just isn’t suitable,” said Helen. "I would never have brought her home otherwise, because I’m too scared. My house isn’t suitable – it has no equipment in it. My two elderly neighbours came over to help me with Amy – she shut down because she was so stressed and couldn’t communicate how she was feeling.
The water damaged the ceiling and floor (Helen Carey / SWNS)“I know it was an emergency and people’s hands were tied, but they left my daughter in the living room all day and didn’t do anything until it was too late. What if I had been away? Would they have left her in the living room by herself, or put her back in that room?
“I’m scared to ask that question because I don’t know what would have happened to her. My daughter doesn’t have a voice – I have to be her voice for her. I’m just trying to fight for her rights.”
The Mirror has contacted Haydale Care Home for comment.
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