'Disorientated and scared'- care resident treated appallingly after home shutdown

The son of a 98 year old woman living at a Sussex Care home which was shut down on Friday (14/09) says the closure was handled appallingly. Eileen Terrell's family say she was disorientated and scared when she was forced to leave Horncastle House in East Grinstead.

It was closed by the Care Quality Commission over concerns about the standard of care and the risk to people living there. The home says it does not accept the allegations that have led to the closure.

With no warning, Peter Terrell was give just a matter of hours to get his elderly Mother Eileen out of the care home, the family had been paying £2000 a week for.

The 98 year old suffers from dementia so the chaotic scenes she was faced with on friday night, left her feeling lost and distressed.

Peter says he's appalled at the way the closure was handled.

Peter Terrell, Son of Eileen:

Horncastle house was rated as inadequate after an inspection in August.

At the time,

  • there was no registered manager in post

  • there were not enough staff deployed to meet people's needs

  • residents at risk of choking were not properly monitored

  • weigh charts had been miscalculated to show that some people had lost large amounts of weight when they hadn't

But Peter insists he was always happy with the care his mother recieved.

The care quality commission said it visited the home on Thursday (13/09) after further concerns were raised about the standards of care.

Horncastle house said it does not accept the allegations that have led to the closure Credit: ITV Meridian

Horncastle house said it does not accept the allegations that have led to the closure, and believe that the additional measures our senior management team swiftly put in place would have enabled us to continue to provide high quality care to our residents.

Horncastle House is run by Sussex Health care. Sussex Police are currently investigating the deaths of 13 residents at other care homes run by the same company.

Sussex Police say they are liaising with the CQC over any matters that require police attention.

The Care Quality Commision will issue a full report in due course.