The CEO of a social care company responsible for a number of cases of extreme neglect has been nominated for a prestigious industry award. 

An investigation conducted by ITV News in March revealed abusive behaviors in several assisted-living facilities managed by Lifeways, one of the largest private care providers in the UK.

In one instance, a disabled man was filmed eating out of a bin at a private care home in Coventry after his concerned mother set up a secret camera. 

In a Lifeways-operated home in North London, a man with Down’s syndrome was left with an untreated infection that progressed to the point where his foot became gangrenous and turned black.

Despite these horrifying cases, Andrea Kinkade, the chief executive of Lifeways, has been nominated as one of this year’s Social Care Top 30.

Speaking about Ms Kinkade’s nomination, an anonymous Lifeways source tole the Daily Mail: ‘I couldn’t believe it when someone told me.

‘I think it is shocking after her attitude in the ITV documentary, where she hadn’t even contacted a person’s family to apologise.

‘She just makes a joke of all the care system and the hardworking and caring people in it. To be honest, all Lifeways cares about is making money. 

The CEO of the private social care company Lifeways, Andrea Kinkade, has been nominated for an industry accolade only months after reports of significant neglect and abuse emerged at some of the company’s care facilities.

“I think most of my colleagues were taken aback by her nomination, and many do not have favorable opinions about the management at Lifeways,” a source commented.

The annual award aims to recognize the most impactful leaders in the sector, focusing on those who envision advancing industry development and enhancing outcomes.

Voting commenced on September 2 and will end on October 1, with the winners decided by public vote and celebrated at a lavish ceremony on October 21 at the London Marriott Hotel Grosvenor Square.

Lifeways is the UK’s largest provider of supported living for adults with learning disabilities, caring for around 4,000 people. Last year, its revenues soared to £295million.

In total, the company has received £1.5billion of public money since 2016, but Care Quality inspections showed 63 per cent of their institutions were rated inadequate or in need of improvement. 

Despite those performance levels, the company’s four directors, Ms Kinkade among them, received £1.6million between them in their most recent public financial statement. 

Meanwhile, the company is currently advertising for support worker roles with many paying £12.21 per hour – the minimum wage for over 21s. 

An employee speaking to the Daily Mail confidentially described a regime of low wages and no overtime, alongside a poor training programme. 

In March this year, a documentary exposed two cases of serious neglect at Lifeways facilities.

The first featured Connor, a young man in his early twenties with bipolar disorder, as well as autism and developmental delays as a result of a rare genetic condition called Phelan-McDermid Syndrome. 

For his own safety, Connor can’t be left alone or legally live at home with his younger siblings, so in 2018 he was placed at a Lifeways residential home in Coventry. 

The council paid Lifeways £4,700 per week for Connor’s stay, which was meant to include round-the-clock, one-to-one care. 

But two years ago, Connor’s mother, Lindsay, became concerned about the level of care her son was receiving after he started displaying massive weight gain and showing signs of poor mental health.

Lindsay even had a phone call from a friend who reported that she had discovered Connor walking the streets far from home, alone. 

Having entered the facility at around ’13-14 stone’, he had ballooned to 20 stone. After setting up a private camera in his room, she saw the source of his rapid growth – he was left eating out of a bin, completely unsupervised, for almost an hour. 

Connor, in his early 20s, has bipolar disorder, as well as autism and developmental delays as a result of a rare genetic condition called Phelan-McDermid Syndrome

The council paid Lifeways £4,700 per week for Connor’s stay, which was meant to include round-the-clock, one-to-one care – but a secret camera set up by his mother Lindsay revealed him eating from the bin for an hour, completely unsupervised 

The secret video also included a litany of abuse, including Connor being shouted at and mocked – and having to wake up his carer

The secret video also included a litany of abuse, including Connor being shouted at and mocked. In another clip, he is left alone for so long that he has to wake up the carer who is meant to be looking after him. 

‘Within three days, we saw five members of staff neglecting and abusing him,’ Lindsay said.

‘They’d mock him, they’d vape next to him, shouting in his face, every day was neglect, every shift was neglect. That was Connor’s normality, but we didn’t know it.’

However, Connor’s treatment was not an isolated incident. The ITV investigation also uncovered a case of serious neglect at a Liveways-run home in North London.

Steven Baskin has Down’s syndrome and lived in the residential facility. As with Connor, his father, John, became worried after he experienced rapid weight gain. 

John said: ‘He was putting on enormous amounts of weight, getting fatter and fatter. He was unhappy, he was staying in bed and not getting up. The whole flat was filthy, dirty, rotting food, pans that hadn’t been washed.’

Steven Baskin (left), who has Down’s Syndrome, pictured having a cup of tea with his father John (right)

The final straw for Steven’s father John was noticing that his son’s foot had turned black as the result of an untreated infection – requiring urgent hospital treatment

Steven’s father John looks at his dossier compiling the abuses his son was subject to at a Liveways-run residential home

But the breaking point came in 2019 when John noticed that his son’s foot had turned black as a result of an untreated infection, requiring urgent hospital treatment. 

John said: ‘I was horrified, it looked like he could lose a foot. At Lifeways no one had thought to remark on it. That’s the biggest worry for a parent, what will happen when I’m not here to do it?’

Lifeways CEO Andrea Kinkade said back in March that she was ‘appalled’ by the findings and that the staff featured in the ITV reporting had been suspended or fired.

In an interview with ITV News, the chief executive said: ‘It’s absolutely appalling to hear those stories and to hear about anybody who receives neglectful care or lack of care. I think it is absolutely shameful.

‘These situations are historic. They were dealt with robustly at the time. As soon as we were alerted to them, we suspended people and they were subsequently dismissed.

‘We deliver three million care hours a year with 10,000 employees. Thankfully, this is rare. It is awful, but it is rare.’

However, the following month, two more patients spoke out about substandard care at Lifeways facilities. 

Sylvia Siddique, from London, said her blind, learning-disabled son Mikey was routinely ignored by his carers and in one instance even left alone in his room while the fire alarm went off in his apartment. 

Meanwhile, in Altrincham in Greater Manchester, Jonny – who has muscular dystrophy – developed a kidney infection because Lifeways support staff took so long to get to him after calling for assistance to use the toilet. 

While Lifeways insists these cases are all ‘historic’, earlier this year Jonny documented the lengthy waiting times he was forced to endure.  

While acknowledging Jonny’s distress, the firm said government funding only covers one support worker for him and five other residents.

On Lifeways’ website, the company’s CEO Ms Kinkade is described as ‘an experienced and driven Chief Executive’ with a strong track record in ‘transforming operational performance within the healthcare sector’.

Kinkade has previously been CEO at Active Care Group and Innovate Care Group, a complex care services provider.

Lifeways and Social Care Top 30 were approached for comment. 

Department of Health and Social Care told the Daily Mail: ‘These cases are shocking and should never have been allowed to happen. That is why the Secretary of State urgently spoke with the Care Quality Commission to ensure they take robust and necessary action against providers which fail to treat people with dignity and respect.

‘We will be monitoring what action and changes the Care Quality Commission suggests and what changes are made.

‘There are too many examples of this happening and abuse or neglect are unacceptable.

‘Everyone has the right to receive safe, high-quality care – that is why the Secretary of State has asked the independent commission on adult social care to consider a social care system fit for the future, including making recommendations to strengthen accountability.’