Another serious incident where an elderly person was left unattended on the floor of their sheltered accommodation has emerged.

A woman has raised concerns after reading our front page story last week of 97-year-old Mabel Kelly who died 17 days after being left unattended for two and a half hours when a mobile responder went to the wrong address.

Your Local Guardian:

The Sutton Guardian's front page last week

Sutton Council said some changes in processes were made following investigations into Mrs Kelly’s death however Christine Brown, 56, from Wallington, feels not enough was done after similar problems emerged in her father's care last year.

One night last May, two years after Mrs Kelly’s death, Mrs Brown’s father Alfred Webb, 85 at the time, rang his safety alarm following a fall but was left unattended for two hours on the floor of his home St Pauls Close, Thornton Road, Carshalton.

The mobile responder arrived with the wrong keys. Mrs Brown, her father’s named contact, was on holiday at the time and had to wake up her sister to come round with a key.

Your Local Guardian:

Christine Brown

Mrs Brown said: "My father was calling out and they could hear him by the front door saying ‘Please help me, please help me’.

"For them to be outside a flat saying ‘I don’t think we have the right keys’ is not right when you are dealing with people’s lives.

"When he finally got to hospital he spent five and a half weeks in there and it was touch and go.

"But I tried my best to find out some answers. If they are responsible they should have keys.

"I was really concerned when [the council] said they had put in place new things because [Mabel Kelly] was three years ago."

A spokesperson for Sutton Housing Partnership said: "This incident was taken extremely seriously by Sutton Housing Partnership. 

"Unfortunately the mobile responder on call that evening was unable to quickly gain access to Mr Webb's property and as a result of this a family member was contacted. 

"We are very sorry for the obvious distress this caused to both Mr Webb and his family." 


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