TWO carers neglected four patients with severe disabilities while they worked in a home, a court has heard.

Shaunna Hughes and Peter Croft are alleged to have mistreated the patients a number of times last year.

Hughes, 25, is said to have shouted abuse at one of her patients and also incorrectly kept an outside door open so she could smoke knowing a patient with pneumonia could be affected.

She is also accused of throwing a pen at a patient to get their attention.

The court also heard Hughes, of King Georges Avenue in Harwich, also swore at one patient but no charges relate to that alleged indiscretion.

This afternoon, a jury at Chelmsford Crown Court was told on one occasion in January last year Hughes was at the care home, in Harwich, with a patient with no mental capacity and who had suffered with pneumonia.

It is alleged, despite knowing of his illness, she opened the door to the home and began smoking.

Speaking to the jury, the patient’s mum said: “[My son] had to come home from hospital the next day, because you can’t keep a person like him in hospital.

“I came to see him at the care home and I was quite shocked to see Shaunna open the door and light a fag knowing my son was sitting right near her with pneumonia.

“It was cold, I remember my feet were frozen. I kept quiet, but I did raise the issue with someone higher up.”

Hughes stood in court alongside co-defendant Croft, 65, of Ramsey Road in Harwich, who is also charged with neglecting or illtreating a patient.

The counts include slamming a patient’s hand down on the table causing injury, kicking a patient under the table, forcing his knuckles into someone’s neck and pushing someone in a wheelchair too forcefully.

Edward McKiernan, prosecuting, told the court the standard of the care fell significantly below what it should have been.

He added: “The defendants had important jobs to do, the elder was in a supervisory role to his younger colleague.

“Regrettably these two did not maintain the high standards.

Other care workers went to their employers to raise concerns about the treatment of four young men.”

Hughes denies three counts of wilfully neglecting or ill-treating patients while Croft denies for counts of the same charge.

The trial continues.