Care home tied pensioner to chair with a dog leash

The owners of a care home are under investigation after "barbaric" staff restrained a senile pensioner by tying her to a chair with a dog leash.

Phyllis Scott, a widow aged 84, was discovered bound to a chair by a member of the public visiting a relative at the privately run home on Monday.

Staff have been interviewed by the government-run National Care Standards Commission (NCSC), which said the owners of Clover Lodge Residential Home in Humberston, Grimsby might be fined £4,000. A member of the NCSC who went to the home confirmed that Mrs Scott was restrained with a dog lead.

Janet and Gill Bebbington, the owners, will be interviewed for a second time next week to establish whether their staff breached the 2001 Care Homes Regulations, which prohibit physical restraint unless it is the "only means" of control.

Sharon Atkinson, a spokeswoman for the NCSC, said: "Tying people down should only happen in exceptional circumstances – and never with a dog leash."

Mrs Scott had lived at the home for about two years and was prone to violent outbursts. Social workers arranged for her to go to a council-run home in Cleethorpes on Tuesday but she subsequently fell and was admitted to hospital.

Mrs Scott's son Mike, 56, learnt of the case when he telephoned on Wednesday and was told she was no longer at the home. Mr Scott, who lives in the Highlands, said: "I want the home struck off the register. It turns my stomach to think of her being held like that. I understand it cannot be easy caring for a vulnerable old lady but this is barbaric."