Death inquest carers criticised

The family of a man who collapsed and lay dying for eight hours, despite him being found by a carer, have criticised the firm that provided his care.

Terrance Hunter's family said Care Team Yorkshire had "layers of bureaucracy" and staff with "impossible workloads".

An inquest heard his Polish carer, who spoke little English and did not know how to call 999, thought Mr Hunter, 65, of Selby, was still breathing.

The coroner recorded a narrative verdict into the death last September.

A post-mortem examination failed to determine the exact cause of death but found it was likely to be as a result of years of heavy drinking.

'No 999 knowledge'

In a statement, Mr Hunter's family said: "The system seems overly complicated with standards, guidelines and protocols which should improve the quality of care but seems to generate more and more layers of bureaucracy to deal with them.

"While frontline staff are either too busy to read them or unaware of their existence."

The inquest heard how Mr Hunter's carer, Magdalena Januszkiewicz, 29, had an excessive workload.

On her first day in the job, she found Mr Hunter lying on the floor, apparently drunk. She left the house without touching him, in the belief that he was still breathing.

Speaking through an interpreter she admitted she could not read the care instructions left in clients' homes and had no knowledge of the 999 emergency service to call an ambulance.

The regulatory body for care providers, the Care Quality Commission (CQC), also came under fire from the coroner.

Circumstances 'rare'

He said they had done "practically nothing" following Mr Hunter's death and he would contact the Department of Health about the way they had handled the case.

Care Team Yorkshire, who were providing care on behalf of North Yorkshire County Council, is no longer trading.

In a statement the council said: "Whilst we acknowledge Mr Hunter's family's concerns regarding what they perceive to be extensive layers of bureaucracy in the social care system, we firmly support the government's policy, that individuals have the right to purchase their care from a choice of providers.

"The governance systems are in place to ensure that unfortunate circumstances such as these continue to be extremely rare."

Sue McMillan, CQC's regional director for Yorkshire, said the commission had been reviewing its inspection process and would be making more unannounced checks in the future.