And the point of CQC is?

So it's been a while since i've updated my blog (a lot going on!)

Now you all know my story, What did I do next? Well it's a long process, working with Trading Standards to hopefully get justice for me and anyone else who is caught up in Victor's games!

I'm trying so hard to turn my negative experiences with care into something I can use in a positive way to help others, now I run my own team of carers and it's great having that independence back but I won't be able to rest until I get closure.

I'm currently looking for a lawyer which is hard, the area seems so specialised. So please if anyone reads this who thinks they could help, please do! Unfortunately I will have to apply for legal aid as I have little money- like most 22 year olds! But I really need to stop these type of things from happening.

In regards to the whole Victor case I finally got back in touch with the CQC investigator who was dealing with CARE. After 6 months of trying might I add. Things weren't going as I was led to believe.

Every time I rang the CQC, they would tell me that a formal investigation was underway and I should contact the officer who was in charge of case. However when I finally spoke to her she sounded confused. There was no investigation. What?!

Apparently, when she did her last routine inspection CARE passed which meant there was no cause for concerns as my complaint was more a safeguarding issues not something that the CQC deal with. Huh?
I asked what was the point of the CQC if they weren't going to regulate properly? Officer explained that as CARE have passed their last inspection (which only covered 3 outcomes as opposed to a full set might i add) and that it was the CQC's duty to make sure that organisations fulfil outcomes. This is outrageous  I was told for 6 months there was an investigation to then be told there wasn't one as 'CARE had fulfilled outcomes' - what a joke! And the irony is that one of the outcomes is about respect for the client which CARE quite clearly lack, but no it is fine. On previous reports posted online I also found the same patterns of abuse and complaints that I had suffered myself. And these reports were published in 2011. So it was clear CARE were up to their old tricks but apparently the so called Care Quality Commission won't help. Although they did tell me to contact the provider, yeah because that is wise *rolls eyes*

After my fury with the CQC I contacted safeguarding. Again bad luck, as I was now deemed safe there was and is no need for them to be involved as Trading Standards are dealing with it. But as my TS officer says, to get him good I NEED a lawyer as she can not deal with emotional damages, so please somebody help?!!!

Update soon

Bea

Chapter Six : Out and gone ... (for now)

Hey,

Thank you to all the people who have read my story, I have had more than an overwhelming response. I plan that one day I can make a difference. The more I blog, the more I want to unveil CARE's true identity and also my true identity. Anyway here is the latest instalment. 

Chapter Six

So Victor had decided he wanted to withdraw two days before my requeste date that Dan had also agreed. So Thursday came, this was it last day at CARE. After Louise's shift Adam* (a team leader for the other client's team) knocked on my door. I answered.

He asked me if he could tak the Care File and return it to Victor. I said no. This file contained my personal information and I was well within my right to keep the file. He then BEGGED me to give it to him, saying that I should just o what Victor asks otherwise i'd get in trouble. Adam left.

The irony was that Victor wanted me to play along despite the at he was more than prepared to leave without care, at risk, not complying to his duties as a care director, it was a joke. Louise got a text. Victor.

Can you please tell Beatrice to return her care file to Adam, as it is CARE property. If you or she do not do so, the police will be phoned and it will be regarded as theft.

I can actually not tell you how much this made me laugh. The sheer suggestion of Polie being phoned was pitiful. Did I return the care file? no I didn't! instead I copied each and every page of the most innacurate document because I knew I wanted to proceed with a case against CARE even though I was out. 

The next day Louise agreed to come in and help me get up despite all the threats from Victor about suing. The weekend past, Finally the safeguarding meeting had arrived. 

The chairman of the meeting seemed somewhat pleased that the meeting was happening, then he revealed a shocking truth. This wasn't the first case against Victor or CARE. In fact I was the fourth victim. Same pattern of abuse. I was sickened. How was this being allowed to happen? Well here's how....

CARE (Victor) generally deal with people who have life limiting conditions and people who are in receipt of Direct Payment. (DP)

To be in receipt of DP you have to prove that you are in a state of mind that understands the responsibilities that DP carries, I.e you are in charge of the service rather than Social Services and that you foot the bill for the service. CARE promise to 'assist their clients with this process'.. So when something goes wrong the argument is that the client e.g me is of sound mind to get involved with the company and that CARE strive to involve clients in every aspect of care. 

However, this does not work. As Victor fiddles with invoices and documents to make it look like you've agreed and it is REALLY hard to disprove this and relate it to a break in the law. 

There is a case against Victor that was made public and the case was dropped. If someone is not convicted you can not use it against them, So Victor was and is a clever stupid man who knows how to cover his tracks.

At the meeting it had become clear that people wanted Victor to be stopped. It was up to me to take the company down. The stories I told made the people at the meeting recoil in horror. The chairman Mike* was really determined to take Victor down but needed me to make a stand.

So I was put in contact with Trading Standards and my officer believes I may have a fair chance at getting justice. 

UPDATE: I did a google search last night and noticed that CARE were shortlisted as a finalist at the 2013 Accolades Care Awards. You have to be kidding.

Until Next Time Bea x    
    

Chapter five: The Final Blow

Before I write this chapter, I would just like to say a massive thank you to anyone who has read/retweeted my blog, it means so much to have my voice heard. I hope that this helps anyone going through similar situations. The sad thing is that you're not alone. I want my story to make an impact and show that things like this can't happen again. So Thank you for supporting me.

Chapter five

"I'm worried about my safety, are you going to listen to me?"

"NO."

I was actually shellshocked, why was Victor lying? Surely that would affect his 'sparkling reputation' Dan advised me that if I wanted to my team privately I needed to do so soon. He sent me documents so I could write my own contracts/adverts/become an employer in my own right. 

I rang Victor, I asked him when he was planning to withdraw as I was building my own team and needed to know dates for the new employees. He kept saying that he would withdraw when the time was right and that I shouldn't question him. Unbelievable. He STILL wasn't cooperating. How was I supposed to plan. And to make things harer it was two weeks before the Christmas Break. I needed to know what was going to happen. The next day I rang again.

The conversation soon turned hostile (like always) I told him so many times that I was worried about being left with no care. I asked him to listen repeatedly. He refused. He even explicitly said NO. In a way as much as the situation was frustrating  he was playing up to what i'd been saying all along. I was finally winning.      

That day, I decided to look the company up on CQC website, However unlike most companies they were not listed in the conventional way. instead the CEO's name was used. Suspicious? Anyway I had done this a month previous and was shocked by my findings. 

The first report I had seen had 'crosses' relating to do they respect the clients wishes and their dignity. When I opened the full report I read incidences remarkably similar to my own. This company was evil. It prayed on the vulnerable. However this time (one month later) told a different story. Gleaming reports. What? How can this be?

I knew for a fact that CARE only had 4 clients (one being the CEO) and that my university had been in contact with CQC regarding CARE as I was soon to find out that Victor was notoriously known across the campus for being aggressive, disrespectful and a bully. - This was even before I was a client.

My disability advisor Ben had told me a few weeks previous that Victor was known to the CQC and there was even an officer investigating CARE. So how in the new report did CARE have such good reviews? I rang the CQC and explained my concerns.

I explained that CARE had only 4 clients and that if I had been asked for experiences the report woud have had a totally different outcome. And that I also knew that a CQC investigation was supposed to b underway, The guy I spoke to told be that the two clients that they did interview were happy so based on that information CARE had passed the investigation. This left me thinking, I thought the CQC were supposed to prevent these kind of situations from happening? Could they do more?      

Meanwhile with Victor he still hadn't gave me date and time was running thin. Dan rang me and asked me if I could go to a safeguarding meeting regarding Victor, I jumped at the chance, well not literally.

There was still no date and no rota had been uploaded regarding the shifts for the following week. So I rang Victor. Again. I asked him whether it was possible for him to withdraw on the day that I was due to be going home for Christmas. He again was difficult. " I will withdraw when I'm ready." He kept saying. So hang on, the man that wanted me gone, was keeping hold? It was Thursday I was going home in 9 days with no idea about what care I was going to receive and when. 

Next day, Louise was on shift and was as curious as I to find out what was going on in my final week. Louise had also handed in her notice of resignation due to the fact that CARE hadn't even had the decency to inform her that they were withdrawing services and it was left to me to tell her. The other two employees on my team were being retrained to work with another client.      

She rang Victor to ask him what was going on. He was put on speakerphone. He told Louise that she should not tell him how to run his business despite the fact she was only asking what shifts she was working from Monday. So we decided to take matters in to our own hands.

CARE use a website that is similar to some kind of file sharing, where the client and their team can view Shift Rotas and other documents. When we logged in we noticed that all previous documents had been deleted.

We uploaded our own rota that had the final shift with CARE as the Saturday Morning. (going home day) We knew it would annoy him but I was getting no where. I logged on a few hours later to find that my rota had been deleted and Victor had uploaded one that had the last shift as Thursday. Two days before the date that me and Dan thought would be acceptable.

........ 

Next Time: SAFEGUARDING

see you then Bea x  

    

Chapter Four: The Bombshell

The dreaded wait...


.... So I was sat in the foyer of the hotel waiting to meet with Victor who was still refusing to meet with me, I was sat with Louise and my boyfriend getting more anxious at the fact that Victor was holding a meeting about me without me knowing anything. I watched more CARE employee's walk past me all asking me to leave but I stuck by my guns and waited.

After what seemed like an eternity, I saw his wife walk through the hotel doors in my direction.

(Can I just point out that I had met with this woman before as Victor had decided to hold a VERY private meeting with Sophie and his wife, despite the fact that the wife was not even involved in the company about me in the MIDDLE OF A TRAIN STATION, without me being present.)

She then instructed that I must leave as Victor was not willing to meet with me. I then explained that I had to show him a document as told by my social worker Dan. The conversation soon escalated into an argument. She finally took my document and sniggered.

I was furious, this woman who was not even a part of my team was laughing at me. It was like my life was one big joke and I was stuck in some kind of sick game. Soon after I left to go home and waited for my next carer to begin her shift.

Sarah came in, Sarah had just been present at the 'mysterious meeting.' I asked her what happened but she answered by saying that I will know soon. After about an hour I finally got her to open up, Victor had dropped me. I was to leave his company as soon as possible. I was stunned. Not only had he'd sort of confirmed everything I ever though of him, but he hadn't even bothered to tell me first. His client, the paying customer.

Of course Sarah swore me to secrecy, that I must not let on that know. which I respected as I did not want her to get into trouble with this oversized bully. Sarah told me that I should receive an email in the next few hours stating why and what was going to happen next. She also told me that Victor had spoken to social services and they were happy with this decision. This was Friday evening.

Saturday morning, I emailed Victor asking him if he had looked at my plans and when we could start the proceeding for my proposed arrangement. By late morning I received a reply which said "Please see attached" I opened the PDF attachment.

And there it was, the letter. ironically dated yesterday's date. (clearly for comic value). It read a little like this:

Dear Beatrice,

I am writing to inform you that We feel that us at CARE can no longer fulfil your needs and due to the lack of respect from yourself, We feel it is best to implement clause 12.1 "we reserve the right to withdraw the service with immediate effect if the service becomes untenable."

I would like to add that we will not withdraw until there is other provisions in place.

Regards Victor         

Obviously in reality the letter was written over 5 pages and contained a lot of untrue allegations and just general rubbish.

I simply acknowledged receipt of the email and asked him for a date from which he was withdrawing as I needed to know how long I had to employ my own PA's. There was no response.

Monday Morning, I rang social worker Dan. He had only just found out the news and no such conversation had happened between Social Services and Victor on that Friday.

Just wow.

Things were about to get more ridiculous. As if that was even possible.

For Now,

Bea x





Note from Me: I really do hope that this Blog is helping to raise awareness about these 'care companies. I one day hope that Victor will no longer be able to practice, I really hope that NO ONE ELSE has to be subjected to his games. 

CHAPTER THREE

A quick note: sorry i haven't blogged in a while living a busy life these days. But here is Chapter Three

CHAPTER THREE. 'A LONG TIME COMING'

So the police were now investigating the case which gave me such a big relief now I wasn't fighting this alone. However behind the scenes it was about to get worse.

Victor had called a meeting with all my team members to discuss 'issues'. However despite earlier reassurances that CARE 'were very open with clients' I was not invited to attend this meeting. This raised alarm bells in my head. After convincing the team I found out where the meeting was being held i decided to turn up there. 

After a few moments of begging to be let in, I saw team member Louise* come down the stairs in tears. I knew something was wrong....

A little bit about Louise: Louise was first team member to be employed after Sophie leaving. During her interview (which I was a part of) I remember the interview being very intrusive, He asked a lot of personal questions and also questions about being a leader. This was very uncomfortable. After her interview Victor asked me what I thought and I expressed feelings of uncertainty as I knew that Victor was a very difficult person and I wasn't sure whether Louise could cope.

Victor explained that Louise was very mouldable and she could be turned into the perfect CARE employee. which of course meant puppet.

... After seeing Louse like that I 'walked' home and spoke to her about what happened. She had told me that she was intimidated by Victor as he urged her to tell him personal information that was not relevant to him. 

This was no surprise. Whilst being with CARE, I was always told i had to be 'open' with them. And by when I say open I mean about everything. Had to tell them when i was going to the doctors, what the doctor said, when I was in ANY type of pain (including period pain) It all   had to be reported to Victor against my own wishes.

In a bittersweet way I was glad that Victor had upset Louise n this way as it meant that I was no longer alone. His unorthodox ways were not just paranoia. He was wrong.

The next day I phoned my Social Worker to update him about the situation. He strongly advised me to have Sophie back working for me, along side CARE. As I was on Direct Payment I had the right to decrease hours with CARE if I wasn't happy. 

That day i knew Victor was holding another meeting with my team so I wrote a document to give to him and I waited in the reception of the hotel where he refused to meet me...


Until Next Time 

BEA xx  

Chapter Two (Part Two)

....

I was on a downward spiral, losing myself. I felt ashamed that I was being conned by a bitter old man and his puppets.

Within a few weeks I was diagnosed with Depression. I kept being told by Sue that I was over emotional and I should just l let Victor carry on 'helping' me. But he wasn't. I wasn't a person anymore, I was disabled. That was it.

One afternoon, I had a panic attack after not feeling very well. The ambulance was called as a precaution. I was fine just told to sleep it off. Sophie was on shift. 

A carer from the other clients team saw the ambulance and rang  Sue and Victor (who were in Newcastle) to tell them about the ambulance without my consent. Within minutes I received a phone call from Sue saying how Sophie had not informed them quick enough despite the fact that they were powerless to do anything as they were at the other end of the country.

To cut a long story short, Sophie was sacked. I was devastated- the one person that understood me was gone. Victor was never a fan of Sophie, he did like how we were close. He was winning. He controlled the people around me.

Out of the blue my social worker (Dan*) rang and said he wanted to meet with me. I felt relived. A way out.        

I met with my social worker and told him EVERYTHING, the pressure, controlling nature and even financial issues. 

It turned out that Victor had been sending Dan reports that I hadn't paid invoices and spent the Direct Payment on clothes, which wasn't true at all. In actual fact Victor had emptied £10,000 out of my account and changed invoices.

He was exposed. at last. The police were now involved in my case but that wasn't the end of the storm... 

A quick note: THANK YOU, Writing this Blog is helping me cope with my experience, BIG THANK YOU to everyone who reads this, you're helping me find the voice in me again,    

Bea xx

Chapter two (Part one)

"Everything that looks like a Rose has a Thorn"

Well I guess this is where I should tell my story. Well, like I said before I have carers to support me in my daily life. It was about this time last year that I decided to change my care provider as the current care package wasn't fitting around my life. Then there was a solution.

I was approached by a care company where I was studying at University in Portsmouth. (for safety purposes I can not name the provider, so for the purpose of the blog I will name them CARE.) 

When CARE approached me they were already providing support for a student who lived in the halls where I was living. The support worker Mark* explained what services CARE provided and whether I would be interested. I passed my details on as it seemed like a good option. 

Within a few days I was in touch with the Care Director, Victor* after a couple of phone calls with Victor he came to visit me in Portsmouth with his colleague, Sue*. Full of nervous butterflies I was looking forward to the possibility of getting out of my rigid routine. 

I was promised the life I always wanted with CARE- support when I needed and more importantly INDEPENDANCE. The first few weeks encountered a few hiccups but a part from that things were looking up. 

I noticed a few unorthodox methods with CARE but I was just hoping that things were going to improve- like I was promised. It first started with the joint back account and the demand that I must stay in Portsmouth over the summer so new carers could train. Despite the unreasonable requests I agreed to stay with company as I was SO desperate to leave my current care.

During the summer I met my first new member of 'my own' care team, she was a lot of fun & we got on brilliantly. She was a part of my team along with carer Sophie* who I carried over from my old care company- which was fab :)

As the summer drew to close and the new term was due to begin, the cracks started to show, alarm bells in my head were ringing so loudly it was deafening. Victor and Sue were controlling me. I had to justify everything I EVER did, shopping, beauty routines, what TV I watched, I had to literally Beg to visit my family for a few days. I was cracking under the pressure. Life wasn't the same anymore.

Then it got worse.

(to be continued)