'She was in need of better care'

The report warns many elderly people are in pain

Two out of five people living in nursing homes are constant pain, a study by the Picker Institute Europe for the Patients' Association says.

Michael Crew says his sister, Kathleen North, spent the last six months of her life in pain.

Kathleen, who was 85 when she died on Christmas Eve last year, had dementia.

"She started to develop bed sores on her ankles, and she was in real pain.

She was in terrible pain - you could see it in her eyes

"But when people have dementia, they can't tell you they are in pain. They are like babies.

"They need turning at night, and they need people observing them all the time."

Morphine

He said staff at the London nursing home where his mother was living did treat the sores, but that at one stage they were so bad that they "went down to the bone".

Mr Crew, 65, added: "That was unbearable for her. She was in terrible pain - you could see it in her eyes."

A relative who worked as a nurse recommended morphine patches, as Mrs North was unable to swallow, and Mr Crew says he mentioned it to the nursing home staff in October.

"They finally gave it to my sister 16 hours before she died in December. They take 24 hours to work, so she was still in pain when she died," he said.

"She was in need of better care, but think the staff acted out of ignorance rather than neglect."