I am writing in reply to your article (Care home found to be unsafe and filthy, October 30).

The headline with which you chose to brand this nursing home is a complete travesty of the truth.

I have an elderly relative resident at this home and over the past eight months we have not had any occasion to challenge her care. She is incapable of doing even the basic functions and has to be nursed around the clock. Her clothes are always clean, her own cleanliness is beyond question. I challenge you to the fact that you have written your report on information highlighting the worse possible scenario. The team who inspected this home would find things not up to scratch as I probably would if I were to write a report on their homes. In a community of elderly people, some cannot see, do not know what day of the week it is and suffer from severe mobility and mental problems.

When I and my wife selected Broadlands from three local care homes this one ticked all our boxes. One we visited had that familiar smell of death, the other the patients were seated around a dark room with one window looking out on the road. Broadlands was like a breath of fresh air with a light, airy sitting room/dining area looking on to an open plan garden of grass and shrubs with an outside area for the patients to sit and take advantage of the open air.

As with most of the institutions they need a bit of modernisation, a coat of paint here and there, but for you to say “unsafe and filthy” is a complete lie.

I would like you to take time to have a look yourself, write a complete retraction of, firstly, the headline then apply your journalistic experience to rewrite the truth.

MAURICE AND MARION BROOKS by email

 



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