Suzy M.
1/5
After speaking to the Manager, Emma, and having it confirmed that there was an available room, I visited Hulcott last Sunday. I was greeted and shown round by the lovely Wendy who is a receptionist. On this occasion I couldn’t view the available room as sadly the resident who had occupied it had passed away the day before and family had not been to collect her things. The door was closed in respect and a picture of a flower was in the closed door.
I really liked the feel of the home and especially how warm and welcoming it felt. I then spoke to Emma on the phone and arranged for my dad, who is bed bound with MS and needing to move from his current nursing home, to visit with me on the Wednesday of the following week to see the home and room in question.
Getting my Dad out of bed is no mean feat as he has to be hoisted into his chair. We paid £30 for a wheelchair friendly taxi to take us to Hulcott where we arrived to find, after being showed around the shared areas, that there was NO room available. I thought that the lady showing us would have to have been mistaken as our visit had been arranged specifically for this purpose.
We left feeling very confused, disappointed and my father was very distressed.
The following day I rang and spoke to Emma, the manager, and her manner was very abrupt, dismissive and she even started to state ‘facts’ about my father that were not true, such as…. ”Your Dad has moved numerous times because he wasn’t happy” “Your dad wasn’t happy on the visit and asked for us to move the furniture around when he came into the entrance” Both were totally inaccurate and the only furniture that the lady showing us around moved, was a chair in the sitting room all of 2 inches to make room for my dad’s wheelchair to enter the room.
I found Emma to be extremely unprofessional and she showed no awareness at all that if the room had gone she should have let me know immediately. When I pointed out that it would be nice at this point to receive an apology for not only a totally wasted £30 taxi cost, my time as I had to leave work early and also, and more importantly, the distress the trip and whole fiasco had caused my father, she said absolutely nothing back to me! I was totally dumbfounded as to her attitude.
Based upon this experience, I would not trust a loved one in the care of Hulcott, as the rudeness, ambivalence and total lack of professionalism from Emma, the manager, was quite staggering.
What a shame!
