The Older People’s Commissioner for Wales, Sarah Rochira, has called on the Welsh Government to set up a public inquiry after the collapse of a trial into alleged neglect in a string of South Wales care homes.
The trial followed Gwent Police’s seven-year Operation Jasmine investigation, set up in 2005, which identified more than 100 potential cases of alleged neglect and abuse in care homes in South Wales.
The court case against Dr Prana Das, Paul Black and their firm Puretruce collapsed in March after Dr Das suffered a brain injury and could not stand trial.
Now the Older People’s Commissioner for Wales, speaking to the BBC’s Week In, Week Out programme, has said that she is concerned for the families affected over still unanswered questions “about what happened to their loved ones, who was responsible and how neglect and abuse on the scale alleged could have taken place”.
Call for public inquiry
Sarah Rochira has called on the Welsh Government to undertake a public inquiry that looks at:
- What the factors were that led to such significant levels of alleged neglect and abuse
- Why safeguarding arrangements were apparently insufficient
- What happened to the individuals concerned and who was responsible
- Whether there have been sufficient improvements in safeguarding arrangements across Wales
Find out more about this story
- Read the BBC’s news coverage of the Operation Jasmine inquiry call
- Watch the Week In, Week Out programme on iPlayer
- Go to the Older People’s Commissioner’s website: Commissioner calls for public inquiry