Care home staff tell BBC say dem feel exploited and trapped by di company wey bring dem come UK to work.
Employees for Prestwick Care tell one undercover Panorama reporter say dem believe say dia contracts prevent dem from leaving.
Di BBC investigation bin also see low staffing levels wey health professionals say put vulnerable residents at risk.
Prestwick Care don deny any suggestion of systematic wrongdoing or bad practice.
One undercover reporter for Panorama take one job as a care assistant for Addison Court for Ryton, near Newcastle – one of di 15 care homes for north-east of England wey Prestwick Care own.
Im bin work dia from September to November dis year, afta im hear allegations from local health professionals about conditions for di home.
Addison Court na home to more dan 50 elderly pipo, dia weekly fees dey average about £1,100. Dis dey paid for either by di local authority, di NHS, di residents or dia families.
Like many care homes for UK, Addison Court dey rely heavily on workers from overseas.
From dis year to September 2023, na 140,000 visas dem give overseas health and care workers to come to UK – dis more dan double di previous year. Out of dat number, 39,000 of pipo wey dem issue visa na from India.
Nurses and care workers from overseas qualify for skilled worker visa.
E mean say dem fit work for UK, but dem need to dey sponsored by an employer.
If dem leave dia job, dem get 60 days to find another suitable post – otherwise dem go need to return to dia home kontri.
Dem raise concerns about di power dem dey give employers.
“If you dey in a position of power as a boss, den you no fit coercive control ova an individual,” na so Andrew Wallis of di anti-exploitation charity Unseen.
Prestwick Care dey employ about 180 overseas workers wey dey UK on visas – nearly a third of dia staff base.
One Indian nurse dia tell di reporter say she no dey happy wit her job, but she fell say she no fit quit, because her visa dey sponsored by di company, and she believe say no get choice.
“I no fit comot for hia. If to say I dey back home I for don resign. But here, I no fit just waka comot,” she explain.
Prestwick no fit make life easy for those overseas nurses wey don choose to quit di company.
Ahmed (no be im real name), bin come UK from di southern Indian state of Kerala for 2018.
Wen im arrive, dem tell am to sign one contract. Wey say if im leave di company within five years, im go pay Prestwick Care more than £4,000, dis include di money di company don already pay to di Home Office, and di legal fees for im visa.
According to di Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) Code of Conduct, staff no suppose pay these costs.
Ahmed say dem tell am say: “If you no want to stay here on dat contract, you fit go back to India.”
Im say im bin feel say Prestwick Care bin dey try to prevent am from leaving, but im resign las-las afta dem bin offer am a more senior role for di care home wey another company bin dey run.
Na so Prestwick Care start legal action against Ahmed, dem claim say di owe di company more dan £5,000.
Im come call Bunty Malhotra, CEO of di Malhotra Group, wey own Prestwick Care. Im tell Ahmed say, “Wetin you do so dey immoral, unethical and terrible.”
Dem also tell Ahmed about one clause for im contract wey stop am from working for any competitor care home for six months.
Liana Wood na lawyer. She say dis clause no go hold water for court or for tribunal, and add say e dey simply dia “to serve one purpose wey be to make [nurses and senior care assistants] trapped for dia situation”.
Eventually di legal action against Ahmed bin dey settled by im new employer.
Andrew Wallis of Unseen say corrupt bosses dey load workers wit debt as a means to control.
Prestwick Care don deny di accuse say dia contracts dey designed to intimidate dia employees and say now dem dey review dia repayment clauses for all staff contracts.
For some of di staff for Addison Court, dia situation dey worse sake of di fact say dem don also pay between £6,000 and £10,000 for dia visas through one recruitment agency wey dem call BGM Consulting.
A three-year visa for only cost £551 if dem bin apply directly through di UK goment website.
Di DHSC say make companies no work wit recruitment agents wey dey charge job seekers a fee.
BGM director, Sunil Thomas, say di company no bin take any funds towards di recruitment of care workers for UK, and claim say any money wey dem pay go don go to “sub-agents” wey dey acting without im knowledge for India.
Prestwick Care say dem don now suspend all new arrangements wit BGM Consultancy.
Di reporter also hear concerns about how low staffing dey affect di standard of care for Addison Court.
Rules no dey on how many staff wey care home fit employ. Prestwick Care say for dia night shifts (between 20:00 and 08:00), one nurse fit provide ample care for 54 residents, as dem dey supported by a team of carers, some of dem fit give medication.
However, one agency nurse wey cover di night shift bin tell di reporter say e dey difficult to manage, and say some residents no always dey receive dia melecin on time.
To give drugs late fit get serious consequences for some conditions, for instance, insulin injections for diabetics, or melecin for Parkinson’s disease.
Di agency nurse say im bin try once to raise concerns about staffing levels wit Bunty Malhotra. Im say Oga Malhotra bin swear for am and answer any how – but dat claim Oga Malhotra don deny am.
Oda staff for Addison Court also tell di undercover reporter say dem bin raise concerns too about di lack of staffing, but management bin no dey interested.
Local health professionals bin join mouth hala about di workers’ concerns.
One GP wit patients for Addison Court, wey want remain anonymous, bin tell Panorama say she bin see a trend wit certain patients wey bin no dey get dia medication on time.
She say staff bin recognise say care bin no always dey adequate, but dem no see di need to bring dia their concerns to di management, because dem go “either somehow make am dia fault or just try to cover di mata”.
Di manager of Addison Court say dat no be true say she fail to investigate complaints, and say she get positive relationships wit staff for di home.
NHS nurse Katy Maughan bin visit di home once a week until last year. She say di nurses she bin tok say dem no dey happy, but dem no fit leave.
She feel say staff bin no dey raise dia concerns becos dem no want offend di company and dem get to leave di kontri.
Madam Maughan say she bin dey so worried about some residents sotey she make 33 safeguarding alerts ova a two-year period to di local authority, Gateshead Council.
One of those alerts bin dey about one resident who she say bin die afta dem bin leave her for 72 hours wit severe constipation. She believe say di death bin dey preventable.
“Dem [di staff] suppose dey tok to di GP to say, look, we still neva get bowel motion, and dem suppose dey get medical advice. Na neglect.”
Gateshead Council bin tell Panorama say dem no fit share di outcomes of di safeguarding concerns becos e go involve releasing highly sensitive personal information. E say dem bin respond to each alert and “manage am to di best interests of di residents… based on di evidence wey bin dey provided at di time”.
For dia latest published accounts, Prestwick Care parent company, Malhotra Care Homes Limited, bin make a profit of £9.3m for di financial year 2021-22.
Chartered accountant Vivek Kotecha say dis margin – about 40% – dey very high for a care home. Im feel say explanation for dis fit be say di company dey spend less than dia competitors on staff.
“Dat dey worrying,” im tok, “becos these kain patients need staff and care… odawise dem dey at risk of falls or injuries.”
For December 2022, Prestwick Care get licence to sponsor overseas staff wey dey suspended by di Home Office. Dem no give reason for di action.
Sake of di news, Bunty Malhotra bin call Addison Court Indian staff to attend one meeting, wia im bin try to beg dem to stay.
Im bin imply say im bin dey willing to overlook and cover up any mistakes dem bin make.
“If you work for di NHS, one mistake [dem go] report you to NMC (Nursing and Midwifery Council) straight away,” Im tok am on record.
“We go always protect our staff, we go always say, ‘dis mistake na training issue’… dis protection no dey allowed outside.”
Seeing di footage of di meeting, Katy Maughan say she bin dey shocked at how im bin appear to try to scare staff to stay for care home.
Di Home Office now don “fully revoke” Prestwick Care licence to sponsor overseas staff. Sake of di safeguarding reports, including from BBC, di regulator, di Care Quality Commission (CQC), don suspend Addison Court “good”rating.
For statement to BBC, di CQC say dem dey “closely monitor Addison Court along wit di oda locations wey dey registered to dis provider”. E add say if immediate concerns dey about pipo safety, “we go use our enforcement powers to keep pipo safe”.
