Abuse UK: Daily Life In Britain's Nursing Home Industry

However it is his appalling experiences in Britain's nursing homes which form the subject of this, his latest book.

Petersson arrived in Britain days before the funeral of the Queen Mother in 2002. His description of his first nursing home job vividly evokes the poverty and underfunding which underpin his experiences.

While the TV shows images of the pomp and circumstance of the funeral of century-old Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, and a choir sings O Holy And Most Merciful Saviour, Petersson must dispense medication in a filthy day-room stinking of urine amid the cries and screams of patients who spend their waking hours in boredom and despair.

Petersson asserts that councils are not paying enough for the care of the many thousands of people they send to private care homes. Figures from 2002 seem to show councils were paying more than £70 per week below the cost of efficient and good-quality care.

Whatever the merits or demerits of this or that private nursing company, this points to serious public underfunding, which resonates with our underfunded NHS.

Petersson also describes poor maintenance of the homes themselves. A freezer left for months without a door, wasting enormous amounts of electricity, toilet seats left hanging on one hinge, the locks on key doors left for months without repair, and general uncleanliness encouraging superbugs.

He describes a national scandal of abuse of patients and workers, bullying management and incompetent watchdogs that gives true poignancy to the hoary old joke, quoted at the book's end, be nice to your children - one day they might choose your nursing home.