Care Home Washed Pensioner With Toilet Cleaner - No Action Taken
Staff at a care home in Uppsala municipality used toilet cleaner instead of soap when washing an elderly resident. She complained of severe stinging pain - and according to an internal report, nothing was done afterwards.
UPPSALA - An elderly resident at a care home in Uppsala municipality was washed with toilet cleaner instead of soap during personal hygiene care.
No action was taken after the incident. It has now been reported under the Lex Sarah rules.
It happened at the end of October. A member of staff who was about to help the resident with personal care discovered that a colleague had used toilet cleaner for the wash.
According to the Lex Sarah report, seen by local newspaper UNT, the resident complained afterwards of severe stinging pain.
The explanation given was that staff had picked up the wrong product in the bathroom by mistake. The report states that no measures were taken after the incident.
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Municipality sees "low risk"
Lex Sarah is the Swedish rule that obliges anyone working in elderly care and other social services to raise the alarm about abuse or neglect - or the risk of it - among the people in their care.
The provider must then investigate and put things right. Serious cases must be reported to the Health and Social Care Inspectorate, the national watchdog.
In this case, according to its report, the municipality judges the risk of something similar happening again to be low.
Not the first time
It is far from the first case of its kind in Swedish elderly care. Samnytt has previously reported on a 79-year-old woman who was served cat food by home-care staff, with "language difficulties" given as the explanation.
In another case, a pensioner was given spirit vinegar instead of cordial by home care - and several similar incidents have been reported.
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Simon Kristoffersson · Responsible Publisher & Senior Editor (Ansvarig utgivare)
Simon Kristoffersson is the Legally Responsible Publisher (Ansvarig utgivare) and Senior Investigative Editor of Samnytt and Samnytt News under Sweden's Constitutional Freedom of the Press Act, specializing in courts, organized crime, municipal governance, and public-sector investigations.
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