Teen arrested after elderly woman allegedly assaulted at Aberdeenshire Care Home

A teenage girl has been charged after a woman in her 90s was allegedly assaulted at an Aberdeenshire care home.

The incident happened at the Muirhead Care Home in Alford on June 17.

The 16-year-old has been charged in connection with a minor assault involving an elderly resident – she’ll be reported to the relevant authority.

The arrest comes after inspectors said elderly residents at the home weren't getting enough food - and some had even been tied to chairs.

The Care Inspectorate applied for to Aberdeen Sheriff Court for the emergency cancellation of Muirhead’s registration earlier this month. That followed an inspection in July that found the care residents were receiving was “simply unacceptable”

A spokeswoman for the watchdog said: "Everyone is entitled to high quality care that reflects their needs and upholds their rights.

"We found people were not getting the care and support they need, with serious concerns about staff recruitment, including the number of staff, staff training, and experience.

"We also identified serious concerns about food in the care home, and the way people should be supported to have well-balanced and nutritious meals. We found numerous hazards and found that very serious incidents had not been followed up correctly.

"The quality of care is so poor that we have applied to the sheriff court for an emergency cancellation of this care home's registration. We do not take this action lightly or often, but only in exceptional circumstances where there is no alternative to protecting the health, safety and wellbeing of residents."

Brian Sloan from the charity Age Scotland thinks the swift action by inspectors may have saved lives:

"Older people in Scotland deserve to be treated with dignity care and respect. It's absolutely unnacceptable conditions and as an organisation we find this appalling. I have to say, really heartfelt feeling for the residents and their families and can understand how angry the families must feel as well as the residents.

"We know social care in Scotland is under stress with major workforce, recruitment and retention problems. But really if the Care Inspectorate hadn't taken this swift action, this really has saved lives, it's as serious as that."

Experts have been brought in to look after residents while officials help their families look for new accommodation.

Muirhead bosses say they have made "strenous and successful" efforts to address the problems.