Care Home : should I report?

[rawlikesushi]

My DIL works at a care home - a very expensive, private home that has a long waiting list and a great reputation.

When she phoned me yesterday, she said that they have had ten deaths from covid and many more residents who are confirmed cases. The staff have been sworn to secrecy to protect their reputation - fair enough.

But she said that they don't seem to be taking any steps to protect the other, healthy residents.

Staff can come and go, of course, but one of them is clearly unwell and has a high temperature - the manager has said that she must stay in work because they're short-staffed.

The residents without symptoms, who haven't been tested, are still socialising as usual in the public areas, with no social distancing. The manager says your can't keep elderly people away from each other, it wouldn't be fair.' But surely at least some of these people are asymptomatic or just in the incubation stage!

I know they were slow to lockdown. When other care homes were closed to visitors, they just reduced visiting hours. But it just feels so incredibly negligent and dangerous to allow ill staff into the building, and to not enforce social distancing in the home.

I have swung between 'mind your own business' and 'you could get dil in trouble' to being seriously guilty that not acting could kill people.

They have no PPE whatsoever. As a private home they usually source their own, but didn't until after lockdown and now can't get any. DIL has no mask, nothing, yet is handling confirmed cases in the most personal ways.

Yet I watched a news article recently where staff had their temperature taken on entry, had to change their clothes and had full PPE, with confirmed or suspected cases quarantined and social distancing enforced. So it can be done!

I feel like I must do something, but who would I go about reporting this to?

[Floatyboat]

Yes, if true report it. Would your DIL be willing to put it in writing to cqc? As a care professional she has a duty to.

[aladyofinderterminateage]

I think the CQC would be the appropriate authority. You can probably report online.

[bestbefore]

Call the CQC and say you're not sure what to do. Can your DIL stop working there?

[Viviennemary]

Yes I would report them. Not sure if anything will be done though. You could phone a local paper.

[Newname12]

Call the CQC and say you're not sure what to do. Can your DIL stop working there?

If staff stop working what will happen then? Will we end up finding dead residents in abandoned homes as in other countries?

I honestly think this will affect care homes more than the NHS. And people don’t care because it’s “private”. Well they all used to be funded by social care, so what happened. The nhs is going the same way.

So they’re left having to pay for their own PPE. They don’t have the budgets. They’re higher risk than most hospitals. The staff will be higher risk than most nhs staff.

The nhs is dumping their incurables on care homes. There’s no way they can avoid CV. One care home near me is on it’s knees begging for volunteers, even admin and cooks, but they have active cv cases...

Care staff are now having to provide end of life care with no medical back up. They can’t transfer suffering patients to hospital for medication.

O/p i’d suggest anonymously going to the press. Or if it’s neglect, even the police who will link in with safeguarding.

Care homes don’t come under the “save our NHS” rhetoric though, even though i think they are doing way way more at the minute...

[Oldhaggard]

Yes, I do think it should be reported, but I'm not sure how much would or could be done. In order to see what's going on, they'd have to go in and I'm not sure they could at the moment? It would also rely on the staff and residents speaking out. If staff are being told they have to go to work ill (and that's not just specific to coronavirus, it happens a lot) then that shows the culture of the home and the staff are likely to be too scared of losing their jobs and reprisals to speak out. The residents too scared to speak out for fear of losing their home.
This isn't a new attitude from some care home owners, at all ime unfortunately. I've worked in quite a few with that sort of culture and it's ultimately why I left care because it's a business and profit is the bottom line, not people.
It's why social care needs a massive overhaul, but I guess that's for a different thread. Yes, report to the cqc, hopefully some will speak out and get the situation remedied.
That's a problem with no visitors being allowed in (I get why and not suggesting anything different) that things like this aren't seen.

[funkystars123]

Report it to the safeguarding team in your local council

[bestbefore]

@Newme19 if the care home the one the OP talks about is private then surely they have budget for ppe - sounds like the manager there is incompetent. I know supplies are tricky but they need to have proper rules which protect them all. Sounds like nothing is in place at all
I just think people need to make a fuss about things like this; the cycle will never be broken if is carries on.

[Spam88]

The lack of staff protection can be reported to HSE as well.

[Pigletthedog]

Report it to CQC. You can do this online or by phone. You can be anonymous but it helps if you give them a way to contact you, then they can get extra info if they need. CQC will share the information with the local authority for you. CQC don't investigate safeguarding concerns, the local authority does, however some of what you describe will be relevant to CQC in terms of their regulatory remit. It may also have an impact on their inspection schedule, ie when they choose to inspect this home. You never know what else is being reported to CQC, so your information may be really helpful.

[rawlikesushi]

Thank you for all of your advice. I will take it all on board and take action later today. In all good conscience, I can't just 'do nothing.'