Family of Hackney pensioner abused by nurse launch petition calling for CCTV in all care homes
Bridget Rees, with her granddaughters Donna Rees (left) and Monica Duggan. - Credit: Archant
The family of a 92-year-old dementia patient who was abused by a violent nurse in the Seacole Nursing Home in Nuttall Street, Hoxton, have collected more than 20,000 signatures on a petition calling for CCTV in all care homes.
Bridget Rees, before and after she went into the care home. - Credit: Archant
Bridget Rees, who died in May, was secretly filmed being abused by Faderera Grace Bello, 54, after her family installed CCTV in the NHS-run Mary Seacole Nursing Home in Nuttall Street, Hoxton.
Bello was heard telling Mrs Rees to “shut up” and was also filmed manhandling the victim in a heavy-handed manner, at one point poking her in the head and face.
She admitted carer ill-treatment and wilful neglect at Snaresbrook Crown Court and was jailed for four months.
Mrs Rees’ family has been out collecting signatures since the court hearing last month to make sure no other elderly person or family has to go through what has been a “terrible ordeal” for them. They hope to get 100,000 signatures for the issue to be eligible for debate in the House of Commons.
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Her granddaughter Donna Davis, of Amhurst Road, who works as a learning support co-ordinator at Wentworth Nursery School, is spending her six-week summer holiday collecting signatures.
She said: “What we found was happening to my nan was sickening and evil.
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“We strongly believe without the footage from the hidden camera, we wouldn’t have been believed, my nan would never have been believed. It makes me feel sick it happened to start with and having to tell this story day in, day out makes me feel sick.
“As a healthy young person who can stand up for myself, I wouldn’t be able to stand that sort of person let alone a 92-year old who is lying in bed and can’t move.”
She continued: “We have been going out for weeks now. We are feeling really positive with the public’s response, we have got so many signatures so quickly.
“We are not saying every worker in this profession is abusive and doing the wrong things, but there are people out there and things should be done to safeguard them.”
See the petition here: https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/cctv-in-all-care-nursing-home-in-uk.
