A FAMILY has spoken of their anger after a 92-year-old woman was left alone on a commode for an hour at a Hampshire care home despite repeatedly calling for help.

Rita Milton rang her emergency buzzer three times while on the commode at Abbey House Nursing Home in Netley but no one answered her calls.

The great-grandma, who was put on the commode by a member of staff, suffers from severe arthritis, balance problems and is also prone to epilepsy, relying on a walker to move around – under close supervision.

She moved to the care home in January after suffering a fall, and feared a repeat would happen on the commode until she managed to reach her walker and struggled her way back to a chair before calling son Tony to tell him what happened.

Her family became concerned after she did not answer a scheduled call from her niece 15 minutes after being put on the commode, and grew more worried when she missed more calls from Tony.

When staff eventually checked on her wellbeing they found her shaken and out-of-breath.

Now her granddaughter Vicky McCormick is set for showdown talks with management after making a complaint on her grandmother’s behalf.

Daily Echo:

Abbey House Nursing Home

Vicky, 32, of Netley Abbey, said: “She was put on the commode at 7.45pm on Saturday and apparently there was a staff changeover at 8pm. There’s no excuse for not checking on her or not answering the buzzer.

“When the carer came in her first words were: “Why didn’t you ring the buzzer?” and that she was “stupid” for standing up on her own because she could have fallen.”

A spokesman for Abbey House said the matter was being “fully investigated” and a meeting had been set up with the family.

The spokesman said: “Our complaints policy reflects what we regard as our duty of candour to our residents and their relatives. So if we find that something could have been done better, we will not be slow to acknowledge it, to say sorry and to learn from it.

“Our manager has been looking into the complaint as a matter of priority, and we would hope to have resolved it to the family’s satisfaction within the next few days.”