Queensland care home resident tragically dies from toenail infection

An elderly mother tragically died from a toenail infection which left her unable to wear shoes.

The 87-year-old woman’s daughter said her mother had been left poorly cared for to the point where she wasn’t showered for a week.

Janice Williams told NewsMail she visited her mother, who smelt strongly of urine, to discover the nursing staff had woken her at 3am for a shower because of a staff shortage.

An elderly mother tragically died from a toenail infection which left her unable to wear shoes (stock image)

The concerned daughter, who is a nurse, also began noticing in May last year that her mother’s toenails were not clipped by staff at the Bundaberg Blue Care Pioneer Lodge.

Ms Williams claims staff didn’t cut her mother’s nails so bought a pair of ‘expensive cutters’ and cut them herself to ‘release the pressure and pus’.  

Early in February, Ms Williams said she visited her mother, only to find she wasn’t wearing her hearing aid because a ‘personal carer had put it through the wash and dryer’.

That evening the 87-year-old was rushed to hospital after becoming severely septic before taking her final breaths on Valentine’s Day last month. 

‘She kept saying “I’m scared, I can’t hear you, I love you, are you all here?”,’ Ms Williams told the publication.

‘We just had to rub her hand on our faces to let her know who was there … she died not hearing our voices.’

The 87-year-old woman's daughter said her mother had been left poorly cared for at Bundaberg Blue Care Pioneer Lodge (pictured) to the point where she wasn't showered for a week and had her hearing aid destroyed by staff

The 87-year-old woman’s daughter said her mother had been left poorly cared for at Bundaberg Blue Care Pioneer Lodge (pictured) to the point where she wasn’t showered for a week and had her hearing aid destroyed by staff

Ms Williams said there were a number of occasions where she believed her mother was not adequately cared for which the ACCC is now investigating.

Blue Care told Daily Mail Australia they were ‘committed to providing high quality care’.

‘We refute the premise this resident’s cause of death was the result of the care she received at our facility,’ they said.

‘The resident had required hospital attention to address her needs on a number of occasions and had been admitted and was receiving care at the hospital five days prior to her passing.

‘The resident had resided at our facility since 2016 and had been admitted to our facility with high clinical care needs.

‘Our practice is that our people work in consultation with families and their nominated general practitioner in providing support to residents with high care needs.

‘An assessment of our records has identified inaccuracies with the claims put forward by Newsmail Bundaberg and cannot be substantiated.’ 



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