Matthew Bates and the late Gary Lewis suffered serious, unexplained and life threatening injuries at a care home, within West Sussex, in April 2015. The care home and the local authority have covered up the truth.

We wish to bring a legal challenge to expose the negligent care, physical abuse and violation of their human rights by those responsible for their care and protection.  The case will expose the weakness in the regulatory system of care homes and the failure to investigate the neglect and abuse of vulnerable adults.

GARY AND MATTHEW’S STORY

In 2015, Matthew and Gary were living at Beech Lodge Care Home, a care home owned and managed by Sussex Health Care.  They are both fully reliant on others for all their needs.

Gary sustained facial injuries over the weekend of the 28th/29th March 2015. Following enquiries made by care home staff the surprising conclusion was that no cause could be established or explanation provided.

A couple of days later around 6 pm on 31st March 2015, Matthew was found to have a severely swollen right thigh. He cannot speak and staff were unsure of why he was so obviously distressed, but no ambulance was summoned until approximately 9 am the following day, 1^st April. On arrival at A&E, Matthew's right femur was found to be severely fractured. He had endured severe pain for fifteen hours without being able to communicate his distress.

Whilst Matthew remained in A&E, staff at the care home discovered the “extraordinary coincidence” that Gary was also found to have a severely swollen left thigh and a second 999 ambulance was summoned. On arrival at A&E it was confirmed that Gary too had sustained a severe fracture with extreme internal blood loss.

The x-ray images of Matthew & Gary's injuries are provided below. :

Matthew

Gary

The A&E staff that admitted Gary and Matthew to hospital within an hour of each other raised an alert to West Sussex Social Services.  Social services then took 10 days to notify the Police.

Once notified, the Police permitted West Sussex Council to lead an Inquiry into what happened. The Council then asked the care home to investigate the injuries that were sustained on its premises and to submit evidence obtained for review. West Sussex Council officers were also allowed to visit the home, inspect evidence and speak to staff, prior to the Police completing any formal enquiries.

The outcome of the Council’s Inquiry was an assumption that both men’s injuries were caused by lifting and handling errors. It was also revealed that one of the temporary staff attending to Gary at the time of his injuries was an imposter, working in place of someone else, and therefore not formally checked against the record of offenders. This person was never found and interviewed, nor was it raised by any other care home staff that the person was bogus, even those working with the person to provide care to Gary and Matthew.

Since 2015, both families have tirelessly sought the truth of what actually took place. Despite the initial assurances of the agencies that a full and robust set of enquiries would be made, there has been no definitive conclusion as to what happened and who was responsible. Since 2018, the families have been ably supported in their quest for the truth by the former Metropolitan Police Detective Chief Inspector, Mr Clive Driscoll.

A short video by Clive, in support of the appeal can be viewed here:

THE FAMILY’S FINDINGS

Our enquiries have revealed links between West Sussex Council and Sussex Healthcare, including the fact that the senior councillor with overall responsibility for Adult Care also sat on the Board of Sussex Healthcare. These links were inappropriate and hampered the effectiveness of all enquiries into the truth.

We have collected evidence of failure and conflicts of interest within the agencies that exist to protect and serve vulnerable adults. This material needs to be exposed and examined by a Judge.

An independent review of both cases has confirmed that the processes of different agencies compromised a fearless investigation, and revealed the smell of collusion and cover up. The evidence we have is irrefutable. Despite the findings of this independent report, all of the agencies concerned claim they lack the power to investigate the failures. The review author also reported that West Sussex Council had supplied inaccurate evidence to the review.  After the injuries we attempted to warn the authorities that poor care was being delivered within Sussex Healthcare, but we were ignored.

Sadly, in 2016 there were 14 further unexplained deaths of residents within Sussex Healthcare homes. These deaths are the subject of an ongoing Sussex Police investigation that does not include either Matthew of Gary’s case.

The evidence shows that the care home staff, the owners and management of Sussex Healthcare, the Local Authority, the West Sussex Adult Safeguarding Board, the Police and the regulatory agencies governing the care home have lacked openness or any transparency, and have blocked and denied us access to key information.  Many families of others in adult care have told us similar stories.

There is a long history of failure by adult care agencies across West Sussex to prevent avoidable deaths and injuries in care homes. Another serious failure occurred in West Sussex in 2010 when there were 19 unexplained deaths at Orchid View care home.

When such failures occur we are always told that “LESSONS WILL BE LEARNED”, but failures have been continuous and numerous, showing that a ‘lessons learned culture’, held so dearly by the relevant agencies, is not delivering effective and just results.

LEGAL CASE

We have had initial advice from a senior QC and from specialist solicitors that the case raises, and will expose, real weaknesses in the governance of care homes.  The Social Care Ombudsman does not possess the powers to achieve effective change across the care home and local government sector, leaving the courts as the only effective way forward.  We allege possible assault or at the very least negligence, misfeasance in public office and a violation of the men’s human rights plus a comprehensive failure to discover what really happened.

OUR AIM

We seek justice for Matthew and Gary, together with a legal precedent set by successful legal challenge based upon fully evidenced poor conduct and procedures, the exposure of which is in the public interest. Had Gary and Matthew been under 18 when they received their injuries, things would have been approached more stringently. Today there is far less protection for adults than children in care settings. We seek to bring equality across the 2 sectors.

Short videos by Mark Bates and Martyn Lewis can be viewed here -

AMOUNT REQUIRED & NEXT STEPS

An initial amount of £10,000 is sought to issue instructions to Legal Counsel to review evidence obtained, provision of legal advice on the most appropriate action to bring and making application to Court. No legal aid is available to fund our case.

Once our initial target of £10,000 is met, our solicitor will prepare formal instructions to the QC to review and consider the volume of evidence collected. Following completion of the review by Counsel, we intend to issue private proceedings based on his advice and if needed, set a second target for funds to be raised to bring the action and those responsible to Court.

Our evidence shows gross failure and misconduct within the following organisations:-

• Sussex Healthcare - owners/management

• Sussex Healthcare – relevant nurses/carers

• Sussex Police and relevant officers involved

• West Sussex County Council and the elected members/officers involved

• West Sussex Safeguarding Adults Board and its current Independent Chair

• Local authorities responsible for funding care for Matthew and Gary

• Sussex Clinical Commissioning Group and relevant officers involved

• General Practitioner

• General Medical Council

• Nursing and Midwifery Council

• Care Quality Commission

On behalf of Gary, Matthew and their families we thank you for any support you are able to pledge.