AIBU to ask how common this is?

[bullyforyou]

I have a question for health and social care workers. I don't want to go into too many details and I have also name changed.

I know that in Care Homes and Supported living, staff have to go through criminal records checks. One thing that never crossed my mind is that people in care homes or supported living could be at risk from bullying from other residents. I am posing this question but we seem to have such a scenario with one of my family members. The matter is currently in hand however I was looking for some insight. From your experience, is this sort of situation common? I am not talking physically but mostly verbally and excluding. I would be really interested to hear your thoughts and experience, not on my scenario, but situations you have encountered and how they were dealt with.
Thank you in advance.

My mother in law is in a care home with Alzheimer's. She (obviously through no fault of her own) would get very aggressive and at times when she could mobilise herself she would be physically aggressive towards other residents.

There was one woman in particular she would always go for and the staff seemed to make no effort to separate them, i.e. they would put them sitting together in the communal lounge.

We witnessed this (all pre-Covid) on several occasions and de escalated when we were there and could but the response from staff was poor to negligible. Often there would be no staff in the lounge so no one to intervene. We eventually raised this as a serious safe guarding matter and said if tables were turned and it was our relative being attacked we would not be happy. We have not been able to visit apart from outside for the last year but the staff now say she has lost that aggression as her disease progresses. Staff at home handled it very poorly

@Justcallmebebes
Thanks for that and I think that it is great that you raised it as a safeguarding concern even though your mother-in-law was the aggressor. I am sure that there would be many family members who if they had not witnessed it would not believe that their relative would be guilty of it.

Yes it happens. A lot. How it is dealt with will vary a lot. The people involved are all vulnerable so it can be complicated but there will be rules about conduct in the accommodation.
Asking and pushing or advocating is going to be needed. Keep on it, sometimes communication in these environments takes carrying through by a relative. Bringi g it up with every member of staff "has there been a problem with x recently?" "Have you noticed any improvement between them" etc. Making the staff stop and reflect helps put the wider picture together.