Merok Park Nursing Home Part I

Mr. and Mrs. Cooppen were multi-millionaires known for owning a number of care homes in Surrey and the surrounding areas. This particular care home, Merok Park Nursing home specialized in dementia, mental health conditions, psychical disabilities and sensory impairments. Merok Park was registered to provide care and accommodation for up to 29 adults, and at the time of the damning report that closed the nursing home in 2014, 25 adults were in residence.

All reports before this time appear very positive, the staff and owners were friendly, helpful, considerate and open to changes needed to the care of its dependants. In all areas the home was considered satisfactory. However in 2013 hygiene conditions began to deteriorate, and this is noted in reports. Towards the end of it's running, the home was unhygenic, the mold was prevalent, the smell of urine was inescapable. Staff were stretched ever thinner, working over 50 hours a week, one member of staff working 84 hours in a single week. One nurse was shockingly expected to care for 27 adults on a single shift. Medical advice such as food allergens and dental appointments were repeatedly ignored by staff. It was also noted that there was no contingency plan for emergencies. Staff were found to have not been trained adequately, and with no infection prevention training. There is an extract of the report below, as well as a link to the entire report, the inspection itself took place in November and December of 2014, but the report itself went unpublished for 8 months.

'The provider had failed to maintain the environment in the home. We found mold on walls, broken taps, stained carpets and only cold or tepid water coming from the taps in some people’s rooms. Furniture in people’s rooms was old and falling apart and people did not have suitable curtains at their windows. The smell of urine was overpowering in the home.' Read the full report here.

The Daily Mail wrote an article in January 2016 detailing its owners Mr. and Mrs. Cooppen, declaring while dependants were starving in their beds in Merok Park, Mr and Mrs Cooppen were in Mauritius, celebrating the lavish wedding of their privetly-educated daughter. After a criminal investigation, no action has ever been taken against the Cooppen family. Two other nursing homes under their operation we also closed.

This home was one of the easiest to locate and explore. We parked up at a nearby pub, and walked on over with no issues. This is a very creepy explore, even before we knew the full history of the building. One room stunk of urine so badly we only glanced in, and a lot of the rooms still had pictures and names of residents which added personality and attachment. There were even old pictures left and personal affects. It seemed like the building had been left in a hurry, there were documents in relation to the medical concerns of its residents. We both agreed this made the explore even more eerie than even our exploration of the Keeper's Cottage Stud, and we very nearly abandoned the explore of the basement!