A recipient of home care in Hässleholm municipality was found by staff sitting in a wet chair in their own home, with a soaked incontinence pad full of urine and feces. In addition, a fungal infection had developed and become purulent.

It was last week that home care staff found the recipient at their residence in the area around Bjärnum and Vittsjö. There was a strong smell of urine, and the chair the person was sitting in was wet.

The employee washed the recipient and changed their clothes, and the recipient later said that it felt good to be dry. After the visit, the employee filed a Lex Sarah report.

The employee is concerned that this may happen again. Catharina Andersson is the unit manager for the area, Bjärnum-Vittsjö, and she has initiated an investigation.

“It is very tragic when this happens,” she told Kristianstadsbladet.

The unit manager points out that the recipient may have refused help, but that staff cannot simply accept a no. At the same time, the manager highlights a lack of training among the staff. More enrolled nurses are needed, she believes, because the operation has many care assistants but few employees with formal training.

Not the first alarm in the municipality

This is not the first time this year that care services in Hässleholm have faced criticism. At the end of August, Norra Skåne reported on the Björksäter nursing home, where several elderly residents were found in bed at four in the afternoon during the summer, still in night diapers and pajamas and without having had lunch.

There too, it was an employee who raised the alarm in accordance with Lex Sarah and stated that similar events had occurred before.