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Original poster

To think that one rotten care home is not the only one ...

79 replies

Wuldric · 18/10/2013 22:38

Story about Orchid View here.

My Great Aunt is in a care home. It is her third, and the best one. The other two were dreadful. Her clothes get muddled, they don't come when she rings to go to the loo, the food is diabolical, one of the nurses is born again and insists on trying to convert her, her room is pokey ... Fortunately at the age of 97 she is still compos mentis, is continent and doesn't need medication. But if she were incontinent, she would be left wet/dirty. For sure. If she needed medicating, they would get the dosage wrong. If she had dementia, no-one would even know ...

This stuff goes on day after day. It's not just one care home. It's all of them. It is a scandal and a disgrace.

OP posts:
NotYoMomma · 19/10/2013 10:34

my fil works in a good carehome and cares so much, really tries his damned best. he was at a funeral only yesterday. there were 5 family members and 9 staff there Sad

he is barely above minimum wage despite extra courses and duties, he is stretched beyond belief and has so much to cope with it really saddens me.

its hard all round.

fridayfreedom · 19/10/2013 10:46

Strangely enough whenever I have met a care home owner they always turn up in a jaguar or BMW!!
Years ago there was a man on the secret millionaire who made his money out of care homes, I was so incensed I couldn't watch it! So he made his money out of old peoples savings and tax payers money Angry

NotYoMomma · 19/10/2013 10:51

apparently there is similar happening with private companies runing foster care placements and charging insane amounts to the la for the same amount of care plus extras and some are
making a
fortune Sad Angry Angry

sadly the ones who seem to actually care the most are the ones who

  1. stay hand have extra duty after extra duty piled on top of them for no extra money and running themselves ragged or
  2. care so much they cant stay when they see 1 happening and residents suffering Sad
foxy6 · 19/10/2013 11:11

I have worked on two care homes and on Home care. I left home care as I didn't like the way we were sent to different people all the time. I didn't feel it was fair on them when having personal care done to not know who was coming from one day to the next.
the first care home I worked in was the best everyone was well cared for despite the minimum wage we we paid, the fact that some months we weren't paid on time and had to wait an extra 2 weeks for the money, and that it was always running out of stock and that we would have to try and work around it. the owner made a fortune out of the home and it was closed by care standards due to hI'm not wanting to spend money on the place. the building needed work and suppliers weren't paid. he was in it for the money. despite all his downfalls the careers that worked there really did care it was like one big family, being in a small town the residents all knew each other and if they didn't know the career they certainly know someone in their family. the family's of the residents fort to keep it open with none of them taking their family member out of there until the last minute. it was so sad and such a shame for everyone involved and would never of happened if it wasn't for the money grabbing owner.
the second Home I worked in I just did night shifts and the girls I worked with were lovely and caring, but lack of numbers did mean that residents were sometime having to wait in their own mess for us to clean them we couldn't be changing 2 people at the same time. there was 2careers and 1 qualified Nurse for 30+ people it. on occasions one of the day staff would work a night shift I didn't like them they would rush things and not do them properly and would start waking people up and 5 to get washed and dressed and into the dining room for breakfast , they made it a contest to see how many they could get up to make it easier for day staff Shock .I refused to get anyone up before 6 and they I would only see to those that were awake already of those that were bed bound as they could go back to sleep after. I could never of worked a day shift there with the attitude they displayed when doing a night shift.

moogy1a · 19/10/2013 11:11

It's worrying that there are such awful places for the most vulnerable, both elderly care and nurseries all too often have low standards and treat staff like shit.
I'd have to do lots of unannounced visits before I put a relative in one of them.
(although the care home down the road is lovely. You can hire their big room out for childrens parties and the residents join in with party games )

pigletmania · 19/10/2013 12:44

Exactly 3k a month per resident, where does all te money go. Certainly not on staff wages and proper care, in a lot of cases. As Friday has highlighted, it probably lines te pockets of the owner, trying to do things onthe cheap, whilst pocketing the rest. Winterbourne view Sad, that was horrific

pigletmania · 19/10/2013 12:46

Inhavecan elderly mother, she is managing independently atthe moment, I hope to build an annex on my property, and pay staff to help look after her, tan put her in a care home

Strumpetron · 19/10/2013 13:01

I've worked in loads of homes and in every single one I've seen some sort of abuse. I've reported it, and sod all was done and it ended up me being outcast.

It's an absolute joke.

It's a mixture of inexperienced people, people who are only in the job because it's a 'job', poor management, lack of training, lack of -or unwillingness to spend- funding.

I once asked for some beakers for the people I was taking care off as one man had a thing for chucking them in the pond. My request was refused as 'this home isn't making enough money as it is'. :Hmm I bought my own. Which when you're on £3.53 an hour is a big deal.

Nancy66 · 19/10/2013 13:05

Some are better than others, absolutely none are what you could call 'good.'

it is a disgrace.

What about the poor people who get no visitors at all. Ever? Who speaks up for them?

Strumpetron · 19/10/2013 13:07

I LAUGH and feeling like crying when I see the regulators reports for the places I've worked in. I was reading some (most are available online) and it just goes to show how shifty some places can be, making it look perfect for when the inspectors are in.

ElleMcFearsome · 19/10/2013 13:08

Christ, I shouldn't have read this thread. FIL is getting to the point (currently in hospital) where this is the only option and now I'm in tears... Can someone bear to write a bullet point list of what to look for (good and bad) please...?

MsWilliamTheBloody · 19/10/2013 13:13

I spent 14 years working in care homes.

I could fill pages with abuse I've seen. I once had to write an account of abuse for my NVQ3 - the assessor turned away the piece I wrote because it was 'too nasty', every word I'd written was true. Hmm

I've seen abuse so bad I've had to be a witness in court.

Another common thing is the food. Tesco value everything. In one home the budget was £1.50 per resident, per day.

Food is shite, rooms are cold, décor is shabby and staff are paid peanuts. In one home we had two nightstaff for 46 resdients.

The money lines the pockets of the owners. :(

Strumpetron · 19/10/2013 13:19

Go in and take a look around and look for things like:
look at how the residents react to the carers
try and see if the residents nails are clean
have a look at an example care plan, mean plan etc
ask them when their last CQC inspection was and what were the results
Look at the rooms, most will have a 'show' room. Ask to see more.
Ask about activities.
Ask what training staff are given, they should have: infection control, moving and handling, first aid, health and safety, protection of vulnerable adults - just to name a few. With refreshers every year or so. Ask if carers have an NVQ in health.
Speak to the nurse in charge and ask any questions you need, not the manager.

Strumpetron · 19/10/2013 13:22

We had 2 carers a night for 38 very highly dependant (so two person) residents. So if one person needed help, it took both the carers which left no-one in place anywhere else.

One day one of the men punched me and burst my nose and lip, I walked off to clean the blood up and the man ended up knocking the teeth of another man out. The manager heard all the commotion from her office, didn't do anything to help except sit her arse behind her desk and shout 'that man has had his teeth knocked out because of you darlin'

ElleMcFearsome · 19/10/2013 13:24

Strumpetron thank you Thanks

Strumpetron · 19/10/2013 13:51

I hope you manage to find a decent place, it\s so hard because a lot seem nice from the outside looking in!

It's easier if your FIL is compus mentus but more difficult if he isn't. Check for changes in behaviour, check if his teeth have been brushed, nails cleaned, weight loss etc. It's small things like that that can be signs of larger scale neglect.

Oh also ask about the staff to resident ratio!

Good luck, I'm sure people will have things to add Thanks

Nancy66 · 19/10/2013 14:02

My gran was a real night owl and when at home never used to go to bed before midnight. In her care home they used to put all the residents to bed at around 6pm, just before the night shift staff started. All done totally to suit their needs.

We complained about this many times but it never changed.

Sirzy · 19/10/2013 14:25

To add to what has been said dont make an appointment to look around, just turn up anywhere decent will have an open door policy for people looking around.

Trust your nose - a good care home shouldn't smell of stale urine or anything else nasty!

BeckAndCall · 19/10/2013 14:28

elle the Age Concern website has a great section on what to look for in a care home - I'd start there if I were you.

Also, your local county council will have an adult social services section on its web pages which will be very helpful

Spikeytree · 19/10/2013 14:34

This is part of the reason that my mother lives with me. She is not going in a care home. Ever.

EnlightenedOwl · 19/10/2013 14:54

oh dear god don't get me started.
Never ever forgotten when my mother was in one of these hell holes - the member of staff who paraded around in a nurse's uniform but wasn't a nurse.. every night I went in there she was sat on her arse watching telly in the lounge yet said not enough staff so residents could have basic bathing every day...all I ever saw was her and her cohorts sat round a table drinking tea - we used to call them the biscuit eaters as that was all we ever saw them doing...this particular one shouted at my mother in front of everyone to the extent the lady who came in to do hairdressing stepped in and told us we should complain but my mother was too frightened to.

Bananagio · 19/10/2013 16:13

Elle have a look at the CQC website. You can do a search on homes in a radius of your area and you can refine it by requirements (nursing,dementia care etc). All of them will have a link to the latest CQC report and will show at a glance if the home was compliant with CQC standards or not. If it isnt compliant check on the report as to what it failed on because sometimes it can be a small area that may have been put right so if you visit the home you can ask what they have done to comply with that requirement since the report. Another thing is find out how long the manager has been there for and how many managers they have had in post over the last few years. A new manager in post isnt a bad thing but I know of some homes who have gone through 10 managers in 2 years and there are reasons for this, often the penny pinching and refusing to invest to deliver a good standard of care and ensure compliancy meaning the managers wont stay. Don't assume that the big, state of the art homes are the best. Look at location and how easy it is to recruit staff to. Ask what their ratio is of permanent staff to agency staff for nurses and carers. Good luck.

Strumpetron · 19/10/2013 16:17

Great advice from Banagio. But take the report with a pinch of salt, like I said before the places I've worked at have had good reports which doesn't reflect on them correctly at all.

It's so bloody hard, people shouldn't have to worry about things like this it's not fair.

Strumpetron · 19/10/2013 16:18

If you do find a home if it's name starts with M and ends with A avoid it (sorry didn't want to name ha)

ElleMcFearsome · 19/10/2013 16:51

Thanks y'all Thanks lots of advice here!