A former nursing home owner on trial for neglecting three elderly residents has told a jury that its manager exceeded their expectations in improving its inspection rating.
Structural engineer Philip Bentley and his late wife Barbara recruited Faheza Simpson, of Holmfirth, in October 2008 to run the Elm View nursing home in Halifax and a jury heard they wanted to see the zero-rated premises achieve at least one star in the first few months.
At an inspection in March 2009 the home on Huddersfield Road was awarded two stars and Bentley told Bradford Crown Court that the achievement was “'beyond our expectations” in such a short space of time.
The home retained its two-star rating up to the time in October 2011 when police officers and NHS staff visited the home to investigate the care of elderly residents.
Bentley, who denies responsibility for neglecting three women who were resident at the home in 2011, said when he and his wife bought Elm View in 1990 they never intended to be involved in the full-time day-to-day of the premises.
The jury heard that Bentley, 65, of Woodthorpe Drive, Sandal, Wakefield, went to the home on Saturdays and Tuesday evenings while Simpson was in charge and he said she had been told what was expected from her as the registered manager in both the short and long term.
Bentley said the home improved dramatically after Simpson took over and he never saw or heard anything to suggest that she was “a bully” towards members of staff.
“'What impression did you form of her management style?” asked his barrister Sam Green.
“She liked discipline,” said Bentley. “She liked people to do their job properly and she liked people to do their job well”.
Bentley said it was Simpson’s responsibility to identify when there was a need to recruit staff and it was her job to hire and fire people.
Simpson, 49, of Huddersfield Road, Holmfirth, has denied being responsible for the neglect of the three women and a man who stayed at the home for a week of respite care.
The jury heard that the nursing home eventually closed in February 2012 and the proceeds of its sale as an empty property went to the Royal Bank of Scotland which had given the Bentleys an overdraft facility.
The trial continues.
