Shocked about death in care homes **MNHQ content warning**

[happyandsingle]

Just this.Cannot believe how care home residents and staff have been thrown to the wolves.
Everything focused on the NHS it's like the elderly didnt matter.
Feel ashamed how we treat our elderly and even if the government act now in my opinion it's to late as to many lives have been lost.
To think the goverment need to be held accountable for this.

It is a disgrace. The government need to be held accountable.

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According to this, the huge increase in deaths is not just because of an increase solely due to covid-19 deaths. The elderly are being neglected. I am glad testing is being made available- although how doable this will be with the elderly/inform is another issue- but I hope that those who are able to get treatment will get this now.

You can judge a society by how they treat their vulnerable members.

I feel appalled for all the care workers too. They have been undervalued and underpaid for years, now they're the bottom of the heap for PPE while caring for so many desperately ill and dying people.

Care home residents aren't just the elderly.

Disabled people of any age can live in them.

Care homes in general have been at the bottom of the pile for everything during this crisis.

Aren’t most cars homes privately owned?
How is the government responsible for them?

Sorry - care homes of course

And what about care workers that died through the virus? Will they get this payout that nhs staff are getting?

I'm not shocked by this at all. I was due to start a job that was in care just as lockdown started. I had to tell them I couldn't start as I knew it wouldn't be a safe environment to be in.

I'd presumed that this was brought in by the care staff? I'd like to see them tested as a priority
I've a progressive neuro illness so I'm struggling and had thought of moving from my bungalow into a care home, but not now...

Even if its privately owned its probably hard to get hold of PPE during this crisis they are entitled to some help surely?

One of the problems is that care homes are largely privately owned so they do not come under state control as the NHS does. Some of the fault lies with care home owners who charge huge fees, pay their staff a pittance and do not show the care and concern we might expect for their patients in these circumstances

@RogueV
Yes most care homes are privately owned but take Local Authority funded clients. So the local Authority has a duty to ensure those care homes operate to acceptable standards and pay them.according to. Except that many local authorities pay way below a rate tha makes the care home sustainable.

My Mil has been in a care home for 7 years and she has received excellent care during this time. There have been two Covid patients testing positive as of last Friday. No deaths. The home closed early in the pandemic and my Fil died of Covid, in hospital, but she and other residents seem to be managing. Every home is not the same.

Sorry to say but the care in carehomes is always awful and no one normally cares , private companies charging £1000s a week and serving residents slop and appalling staffing with nurses that barely know residents , not all but the majority are all about the profit , It’s now the shit has hit the fan and the result has been devastating people are noticing now . It’s just horrendous .

I have seen there have been the same problems in other countries, Spain, Italy and Sweden. Should not be the case but highlights the difficulty of keeping people safe.

Care homes, their staff and their residents have always been undervalued, underfunded, undertrained and underpaid. I'm not sure why this is a sudden revelation to people or why anyone expected anything different in this situation.

I work in assisted living with the elderly and disabled and we constantly have to battle for support from social services and OCT. Residents are left without proper care, equipment and mental health support and we are left without the training to properly support them.

I know of carers on nmw who've provided cpr to a resident and then had to get on with the rest of their 12 hour night-shift without so much as a coffee break between.

Until people are willing to pay the full value of providing proper care either through taxes or the sale of assets nothing will change.

Thanks @EmmaGrundyForPM

I do still think it is the care home owners responsibility to fund and manage PPE, the NHS do not control care homes like somebody said upthread they are privately owned, I do think people forget this.

@happyandsingle. My friend's mother is in a home and the staff were told that the owner had bought a set amount of PPE but they were to ration it as it was expensive and they would not buy more

With two family members in care homes, not surprised

Even if its privately owned its probably hard to get hold of PPE during this crisis they are entitled to some help surely?

But where does this stop?
Are all privately owned companies expected to receive help with acquisition of PPE? It doesn’t really work like that in afraid

I do still think it is the care home owners responsibility to fund and manage PPE

And how do they do that when all supplies are being sent to the hospitals?

YANBU
There was a poster on here a couple of weeks ago, whose dad was due to be discharged following surgery. He contracted coronavirus and was refused admittance and sent back to his care home to die. Scandalous.

standards have needed to improve for a long while BUT it really should have been easy to curtail the problem once identified.

1. as rooms became available ensure everyone was in a private room. 2)stop visitors immediately 3)test everyone multiple times if necessary 4)train and give the staff the protective gear necessary. check all staff temps regularly beginning and end of shift if necessary. i know many are on end of life pathways but it should have been easier to contain the spread.

It's not only care homes, people in their own homes who have visiting carers are being thrown on the heap as well. Care company owners are getting away with not allowing staff to be off sick when they are showing symptoms, expecting that if they can't find someone to cover their shifts, they will continue to work. Ds dad has carers as he has MS, he is immunocompromised & has told ds that he has had carers that didn't know how to remove gloves safely, were touching their faces whilst preparing his food, have been coughing & spluttering & not always wearing masks & disposable aprons. He can't always tell them not to enter as often he is in bed & they use the key safe to get in.