To think this care home situation isn't fair

[Cheeeeeeese]

We have people with Alzheimer's dementia mixed with people who have full capacity. There's a male with capacity who cannot walk, so can't lock his own door from the inside unfortunately. Another male with dementia who likes wandering has gone into the other man's room, trashed it and taken a few items, most of which we managed to recover.
The man is furious about the violation of his privacy and I completely understand. It's not right that people are treated like this. I'm not blaming the residents with dementia.
The man asked for his room to be locked during the day which I don't think is unreasonable. My colleague was instantly dismissive and told him this wasn't possible. I've told my manager about it but not sure if she'll get a key sorted. Not sure what else to do really. They also don't have adequate staff to provide 1-1 support for said residents with dementia.

In the short, immediate term, your people with dementia need to have 1:1 supervision whilst awake

That is indeed what’s needed, but I would be astounded if you could name anywhere this happens? Care homes are notoriously understaffed, unless I missed something? I can’t imagine any of them offering 1-1 care, even when fully staffed, regardless of need! Please tell me you know different.

I don't want to raise the temperature on this thread too much - yesterday I had a barny with someone on a thread about facemarks - but I'd exercise caution reporting anything to the CQC regulator because in my experience they are wholly bent, like a good many regulators. If you work for care home and have taken this issue up with management, who have ignored it, then the Care Quality Commission is quite likely to tip off the manger as to who made the complaint or in any case, they wouldn't need to as your manager could guess. They do not like whistleblowers or 'troublemakers'. In my experience they are there to carry out surveillance on such people and operate under a false flag.

It's an unhappy experience that someone has had their room upset and messed up, no question, even if it wasn't deliberate - if that's the right word. Given the CQC has turned a blind eye to the legal cull of the elderly by this Government, I'm not sure they'd be particularly bothered on this issue - unless they see it as a relatively trivial issue where they can be seen to be doing something.

I don't know it it's possible to have a door locked when the affected resident is not in, maybe it is. Obviously staff would want access at any given time.

Social Services? If you live in Surrey, they're as bad as any regulator and only ever on the side of the care home. Again, it may not be seen as the OP's place to raise questions like this, it's not like the powers that be all guarantee confidentiality and do the right thing, at least not in my experience.

People suggesting 1-1 care for all dementia residents I'm guessing don't have much experience with nursing homes. 1-1 care has to be paid for by somebody.

OP my dad is in a care home, he has dementia and often wanders into people's rooms and causes a lot of distress. The best thing that happened for us was another residents family making a complaint about him. It meant they had to do something to keep everybody safer. Are these incidents being reported to the relevant next of kins?

I know it's for horses, but how about one of these? Just hooks on with clips to2 screw in rings each side, and I think should adjust to about the right width for a wheelchair friendly door for humans.

www.lemieuxproducts.com/horsewear/stable-yard/stable-guard-navy#selection.color=6658&selection.size=6703

Awful. No doubt privately owned and not even basic privacy and safeguarding provisions in place.

I can’t imagine any of them offering 1-1 care, even when fully staffed, regardless of need! Please tell me you know different.

Not dementia, but 1:1 staffing all the waking hours is the norm in DD’s care home, but some residents can have 2:1, 3:1 or even 4:1, especially for going into the community. It is true, they have been short staffed since the sacking of unvaccinated care workers, so DD probably gets 1:2 in her waking hours.
In that sector, at least 1:2 may be the norm, but in the other care homes I know of (and either she’s been there, or been assessed by them), there will be people with 1:1, 2:1 or 3:1.

Its all fully funded by social services or NHS CHC funding, because these places are charities, not for profit and they must cover their costs - which are 6 figures per resident.

I think it is very different in care homes for the elderly and those with dementia.

I think it is very different in care homes for the elderly and those with dementia.

It probably is; but for adults of working age with complex learning disabilities, severe autism, medical conditions or challenging behaviour, these sorts of staffing ratios are the norm, afaik. It is bizarre that a 25 year old with challenging behaviour gets 1:1, 2:1, 3:1 or 4:1 care; whereas a 85 year old with dementia and what is really challenging behaviour gets what 1:8? I know it comes down to funding and what the government can get away with; but its neglect imo of the elderly?

I'm a little late coming back, but yes it is possible to get 1:1 in a communal setting for a dementia patient.
In a dementia-only setting, I agree it's very difficult if not impossible. It seems as though where all the patients will be lacking capacity to some extent or another, it matters less whether they are interfering with others. And that's lamentable in itself.
But my current setting the (one) person we support with dementia has 1:1 funded between her local authority (for the social care side) and health authority (from the nursing pov).
I'm dismayed by the level of mistrust towards care home managers and the CQC. I think at our place we run a fairly tight ship with regard to incident reporting and investigation but we also actively promote whistleblowing by posters etc giving private phone numbers right up to our CEO.

I've spent time in two different nursing homes for respite after hospital discharge but while waiting to get a care package. One was a chain and the other private owned.

I had to call the outside phone line to the nursing station in the chain for help after ringing my bell for 10+ minutes as an elderly man was trying to get into my bed and I couldn't physically move apart from my right arm.. I tried shouting but no answer to that either. The man was trying to climb over the cot sides on my bed so was at risk of falling. The staff were not busy as I could hear them discussing coronation street and I had a view via one of the round reflector panels in the hallway. it wasn't a break, they just weren't bothered as other call bells were ringing and they were ignoring them too. I wasn't allowed to put a gate on the doorway to stop people coming in or close the door as I suggested. I was on the main unit but the next corridor was Alzheimer's area but residents were constantly coming in at night and while doing my personal care even while on commode. Privacy wasn't a priority.

I got moved to a different home and it was night and day in many ways, I was given the only room left in the home which was on the dementia unit to be moved to normal floor when a space came up, my door could be closed as long as I had my buzzer, or I could leave my door open with a pressure gates over it, the home supplied the gate so I wasn't couped up totally even though I was bedbound and still had privacy. It was safe as the staff could pop the latch in seconds but residents with dementia tended to stand and look at it as it was a barrier. I stayed on the dementia unit for my entire time there which was over 6+ months. Nobody came in that wasn't meant to and on days were I was able to be out of the home, my room was locked before I left.

For a little more context I had turned 40 that year so I was many years younger than the rest of the residents. It was an eye opener.

I’ve just been in a step down care home to see MIL. Some of the bedroom doors had locks on, and some didn’t!

Blimey. The care home is the resident's home and they have the right to privacy and safety.

The residents are not patients.

Residents with capacity can be wherever the hell they want - in their rooms, in communal areas, in the garden, out with relatives...

There's no reason at all why a lock can't be fitted that has a knob on the inside and keys on the outside. Three keys. One for the office as a backup; one that lives on a high hook outside the resident's room. One that belongs to the resident.

I am 100% sure that my DM's care home would have facilitated this (we'd have paid). Fortunately she didn't need it - her room was inaccessible to the people with dementia.

My son lives is as residential setting. They don’t have dementia but learning disabilities, autism and challenging behaviour. Some have more capacity than others The doors are opened with a card that you just wave in front of a sensor. Those that are able to have their cards on them. It keeps their things safe. Your resident is perfectly within his rights to ask for a lock in his door. He should speak to his social worker.

Agree my son is NHS funded. He has 1:1 care at all times and 8 hours of 2:1 a day. The cost of his package is astronomical though and it took a lot of wrangling to get funding agreed. It’s more than £5k per week

Of course they are able to have locked rooms, it's not a fire risk! I've worked in a few care homes and all have had the ability for residents to look their doors, the ones who wanted it done for them at night once they were settled in bed had that choice (it could be opened without key from inside), staff just had a master key.
We had a very similar situation with a resident moved in by SS without giving a true picture of her needs. We actually advised the resident she would target to keep her door locked! As soon as a room on our dementia unit was free the new resident was moved.