A residential home for seniors in Paget is at the centre of three separate alleged cases of neglect.

Sunny Vale Rest Home on St Michael’s Road claims that it offers “outstanding” care to the elderly, but one former resident told The Royal Gazette that he was deeply unhappy with the way he was treated and refused to return there after his leg was amputated in hospital, while another was removed by concerned individuals after developing “severe” bedsores.

A third man died in hospital while a resident at the home and his death certificate, obtained by this newspaper, cites “severe malnutrition” as one of the causes of death.

Derrick Burgess, the Shadow Minister for Seniors, has questioned why the authorities have not ordered an immediate inquiry into conditions at Sunny Vale, although he claims that it is not the only facility for seniors on the Island that is failing to provide a suitable standard of care and adequate meals.

The Opposition politician, who has spoken out several times on the issue in the House of Assembly in recent weeks, said that he planned to start naming and shaming homes that were not up to scratch in Parliament.

“I want to warn all the rest homes that hereon in, from this day, if I get any complaints about abuse and the food that they serve, I will reveal who they are publicly,” he said.

Carolman “Joe” Williams, 69, lived at Sunny Vale for several years until he moved to a different rest home last year after having his left leg amputated.

Mr Williams, who has never married and has no children, went to Sunny Vale originally after an operation on his eyes meant that he could no longer live alone.

“It’s a madhouse,” he alleged. “It’s untidy. The food was bad every day; nothing hot. The food is outrageous. It was like a concentration camp, really. All they [the staff] do all day is mop floors.”

His leg was amputated at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital after an infection developed in his foot while at Sunny Vale.

His niece, who asked not to be named, claimed inadequate care at Sunny Vale was to blame for the infection spreading. “They had to take if off because he was in a lot of pain,” she said. “Oh my gosh — I can see that foot now. It was in a terrible way.”

But Sunny Vale owner Dorrie Bennett strongly denied the allegation.

Mrs Bennett said she cared for Mr Williams for nine years because no family member was willing to take him in.

Any suggestion that his foot infection was because of the home’s negligence was a “lie”, she insisted, adding: “There is no way [he] was neglected in Sunny Vale.

“He had problems with his leg from the word ‘go’ — he’s a stroke victim. Eventually, poor circulation leads to amputation. It just happened; this is how life is. We tried everything. We used to massage his legs. My staff did all they could do.”

Mr Williams, a former bodybuilder, said that he was still in the dark about why his leg was amputated, as he had previously had no problems with his left foot.

He said he shared a bedroom with the 81-year-old man who developed bedsores (see separate story) and claimed he saw his roommate being tied down to his bed.

“I wouldn’t let them [tie me],” he said, adding that he did not enjoy life at Sunny Vale and his new home was “like paradise” in comparison.

Mrs Bennett said: “This gentleman was miserable.

“He never liked to get up when we had our functions. He never wanted to apply himself. We had to force him to go on outings.”

Mr Burgess said that he had little information about the third case, involving the 83-year-old man who died in hospital while a resident at the home in December 2012. But he said that it was brought to his attention by an individual concerned about conditions and care at the home.

He questioned why the senior developed severe malnutrition and said the National Office for Seniors and the Physically Challenged (NOSPC) should be thoroughly investigating the food on offer at Sunny Vale, as well as whether the home can meet the needs of its residents.

Mrs Bennett said the man who died was placed at her home by the authorities and lived there for no more than a week before she had him admitted to hospital.

“He was with me for a week,” she said. “He wasn’t a resident of mine and I sent him back to the hospital.”

She insisted that her home, which has been open for 18 years and is inspected annually, offered nutritious meals to its ten residents and provided proper rest-home care, as required under the Residential Care Homes and Nursing Homes Act 1999. Registered rest homes are not required to provide nursing services.

The Royal Gazette asked a Ministry of Health spokeswoman if investigations had been launched into the allegations regarding Sunny Vale, but she said that she could not comment.