On the 29th November 2016 our son George "Kidd" Mahoney died in Wick House, Brislington, Bristol. He had expected support at Wick House but got none. George died alone in a tiny room with no working light, covered in blood, and left two young sons. He had struggled with alcohol dependency but had no alcohol in his system when he died. On the evening that he died there was only one member of staff on duty and 80+ residents. George was 32 years old.  His death has left a void in the lives of those who knew and loved him.  

On the 16th October 2017 Paul "Way-e" Way died in Wick House. He had expected support at Wick House but got none. He lay undiscovered for three days despite other residents having voiced concern to staff that he had not been seen. Paul had a loving family and a lot of friends. After he was found his grieving family were denied access to him. Paul was 43 years old.  His death has left a void in the lives of those who knew and loved him.

Wick House should be shut down immediately.

All providers of accommodation to the most vulnerable members of our society must be subjected to rigorous regulation and regular inspection. The practice of paying very large amounts of public funds to unregulated providers of desperately substandard accommodation must stop.

Otherwise more families will continued to lose loved ones unsupported alone and in squalor.

We call upon Bristol City Council to stop funding Wick House and any other large scale provider of accommodation like Wick House, and instead make Bristol a centre of excellence for human scale provision for all vulnerable adults.