One council tore up a contract with MiHomecare after a dementia patient was left in her chair for five hours with no food, drink or access to the toilet A home care firm run by a new Tory peer has been investigated for “institutional abuse” of elderly patients in its care. National chain MiHomecare, which looks after 10,000 pensioners in their homes, was found to be “inadequate” or “requiring improvement” in more than half of recent official inspections. One council tore up a contract with the company after a dementia patient was left in her chair for five hours with no food, drink or access to the toilet. Another pulled out after probing “institutional abuse” and a third has stopped sending the firm to new clients. MiHomecare chief executive Ruby McGregor-Smith was paid £1.5million last year by parent firm Mitie and accepted a peerage from David Cameron . A company spokesman said: “We totally support councils when they stop giving work to organisations where they don’t feel quality is good enough. "These services are too important to take risks with. Our people are working extremely hard to make sure that we become the best quality provider in the market.” Out of 21 visits by the Care Quality Commission under a new scoring system this year, no MiHomecare branches were rated outstanding. Half “re­­­quired improvement” and two were rated “inadequate”. East Sussex council pulled out of its contract with the firm after investigating seven separate incidents at Margaret House in Uckfield. A leaked report says one patient suffered from lack of food and medicine for five hours while her cries for help were ignored three times. Neighbouring West Sussex council said it had investigated the firm for “institutional abuse” and ended its involvement by mutual agreement in December 2014. It went on: “This was due to safeguarding concerns over the previous four to six weeks.” A spokesman blamed a lack of staff and difficulty in retaining staff. Reading council investigated MiHomecare over “institutional safeguarding concerns”. A spokesman said: “Since September 2014 its status has been red, which means the council will not make placements.” Mitie bought MiHomecare from August Equity LLP in 2012 for £111million. The Mirror has spoken to a number of whistleblowers, including senior staff, who wanted to lift the lid on their concerns. Most blamed a lack of staff. Others complained about time slots as short as 15 minutes for visits. Earlier this year, a leaked internal report claimed staff in two Welsh MiHomecare branches were being paid less than the minimum wage as they were not earning while travelling between appointments. Whistleblowers claim some workers at other branches were also earning below the minimum wage once unpaid travelling was taken into account. The company says it has resolved this “small number of historical cases”. When questioned about low wages, boss Mrs McGregor-Smith, 52, blamed councils. She said: “I don’t commission the services or the wage rates. That’s what our clients do. If a local authority wants to price at the minimum wage only, with next to no investment in training or development, the quality will be low. "Pay should be way above the minimum wage. If they want the right quality of care they should pay for it.” But she was one of 35 business figures who wrote a letter backing George Osborne’s first austerity budget in 2010. The letter also called for public sector jobs to be culled. Mitie is one of the large outsourcing firms that stood to profit.

• published: 16 Oct 2015
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