Do you work in a rest home ???

[Springsnake]

Can I ask is there a government recommended / minimum amount of fresh air and exercise each resident should have ?
Who checks up on the homes ,to make sure the residents are getting fresh air and exercise?
I’m pretty sure my relative is spending months inside ,with out being taken out even in to a garden.
But it’s a dementia ward ,upstairs,and obviously needs a member of staff to take her outside
Her legs are swelling and when I say she needs exercise,they tell me no she needs to sit with her feet up ...
I keep bringing it up and they say ,it’s too cold ,to wet ,not enough staff .
We are paying £1400 a week for this

I used to work in a care home. It had lots of garden space so residents who were mobile could go out on their own. If we were lucky we might manage 5-10 mins outside with someone. But never more than that. I often used to sit with them on my break as it was the only chance there was.
The legal number of staff needed and the number of staff actually needed to do a good job are not the same!

COVID hasn’t helped ,as for the past year they won’t let me take her out

CQC

I worked in care homes and the residents very rarely went outside. The ones who did were able to access the outside areas by themselves or had friends/relatives who could help them go out.

Residents with dementia very rarely go outside because they may wander off. There aren't enough staff to supervise the outside areas, most shifts only have enough carers to cover eating and hygiene requirements.

Unfortunately these places are run quite poorly and the residents generally don't have a very good quality of life. There are never enough staff on duty to attend to the extras needed to provide some happiness, relaxation and stimulation etc.

My mother was in a very good dementia-only care home for very nearly 8 years, until she died at 97.
There was a very nice, enclosed and completely safe and level garden, but most residents hardly used it. But anyone who wanted to was able to use it. There was also a sunny paved area, with sunshades, where some of them would sit in the summer.

But the thing with dementia sufferers is, it’s often very hard to get them to do basic essentials, like washing, and some will always have mobility problems as well as the dementia, so I can absolutely understand staff not wanting to badger those who don’t want to, into going outside.

Once dementia is at the stage where the person is no longer able to take much interest in anything, they often just want to be left in peace, and IMO if that means ‘just sitting’ or perhaps the habitual pacing along familiar corridors (my mother did a lot of this) so be it. Might add that pacing is often a feature of dementia, so some residents will get exercise that way.