To think carers should be jailed

[InBedBy10]

That man who threw that poor child into the alligator enclosure is said to be severely mentally disabled. He was out with 2 carers who clearly weren't watching him when this happened. Witnesses have said they were on their phones. AIBU to say they should be charged for this incident?

To be honest this is not the first time i have heard about carers being totally negligent and getting away with it. Instead the care company they worked for was sued. Which will probably happen here. But i think its totally wrong that the people directly responsible can walk off into the sunset with no repercussions. There needs to be more liability put on people in this position.

Local Authority CX and Directors are dealing with some of the most complex issues and problems that are faced in the country. They also face high levels of liability if things go wrong. As well as the emotional toll if there is a major incident in your directorate. As well as facing high levels of public scrutiny, hate and abuse.

If we want competent and capable public sector leaders, they do need to be paid salaries that reflect the roles. Otherwise anyone with any ability will go into the private sector.

I personally think the reason we have such low caliber politicians is because we refuse to pay competitive salaries to politicians, and throw piles of hate on them. Anyone with any capability looks at that and thinks, ‘nah, I can make a lot more for far less stress in the private sector’. We have the politicians and public servants we pay for.

i’ve spent my whole career in public service and have spent the past 15 in constant fear of my job disappearing in yet another cost saving ‘‘restructuring’. I will be advising my kids to avoid a career in local authority like it’s the plague.

Central government has for decades treated LA as an easy place to cut services as they know the public, such as you, blame shit LA services on the LA and not on central government for failing to fund them adequately.

Depends.

I can’t restrain my 9 year old, he’s cognitively 2.5 but currently in 13-14 clothes.

I am however far better at managing his behaviour, redirecting him and verbally de-escalating him. I have better control of him than his 6ft4 father, because he responds to my “no” and “stop” quicker.

I’d assume that’s similar for a lot of SENd mums, and women in care, because they don’t have physicality to rely on.

My sister is severely disabled. She cannot tell the difference from right or wrong, can barely talk and what she does say doesn’t make much sense. She has two carers at all times when out and about.

many times I have seen them on their phones. I have questioned management about why and they said they shouldn’t be as the carers allocated time is solely to care for my sister. But still it happens. And I always pull them up on it. Their attention should 100%be on my sister to keep her safe, and others safe. But still it happens. A 2 second check of phone could mean my sister leaps infront of a car. Carers (some carers!) sometimes do not realise the severity of the situation. And that they would (and should) be responsible.

Ok, so now you are attacking me for not understanding a post I was not even replying to.

I was responding specifically to the point on falls in this post.

Or that his physical size required two carers if eg he fell or had an accident. Two carers does not mean “dangerous” it simply needs that two carers are required for certain aspects of care

Given your repeated insistence on dishonest attacks on me, I will not be responding to you again.

I have never heard of 4/1 or 5/1 24 hour care and in my opinion you are wildly exaggerating in order to justify your own opinion. No individual, no matter how severe or serious their disability is is ever granted 4 or 5 carers at the same time. In most cases it is 1-1 care that changes in shifts or 2-1 care if outings in the community are occurring. NOBODY, no matter how seriously ill they are, gets 4/1 or 5/1 care on the same shift.

Thanks, that is helpful.

This whole story petrifies me because I have a son that is likely to be out with carers at that age. Relying on external care is so so hard, I have less than a handful of people that I let be responsible for my son.

This whole story petrifies me because I have a son that is likely to be out with carers at that age. Relying on external care is so so hard, I have less than a handful of people that I let be responsible for my son.

The whole point of a risk assessment is to predict every possible event and if the LAbor agency can not ensure sufficient staff and care is in place to prevent those risks occurring then the decision should have been made for an alternative venue.

Carers should only be doing "Life admin" or accessing their agencies system AFTER their shift finishes as they are getting paid to look after and keep safe the person they are with. Their admin can be done after this ends.

Yes l agree with some of your points, but l would still like to see the Risk Assessment Also some facts about the individual. Also the qualifications and experience of the Carers. I have met some fantastic Carers, but l have also met those who barely speak to their clients.
The whole caring system needs to be reviewed- we won’t attract the best until the job has good wages, qualified and experienced staff, and proper career progression.
I would also like to know what benefit was the trip was to the client, and was it an appropriate one.
l certainly don’t believe in hiding clients with additional needs in institutions- unless 24 care is needed,but we need to be realistic, and provide the correct support.
At the moment the News sources are just providing click bate.

Is using the system provided for you to do your work "life admin". Or Work Admin ?

I don’t know on this. We don’t know the full details. What we do know is care work is a low paid profession and not exactly one that people are fully over themselves to sign up for. If individuals are likely to be prosecuted for a client’s actions it will be even less attractive.

@villanova If course local authorities get money and a lot of these authorities make the conscious decision to divert the taxpayers money they get to pay big fat pay checks to senior managers. In the case of my local authority both the adult and children's social care Directors AND their 4 deputy directors get paid more than the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom who has greater responsibility than any local authority employee has, no matter what others in this thread claim. The salary of Chief Executives, Directors and Assistant Directors of all local authorities should be recalculated instead of the learning disabled, vulnerable and elderly routinely suffering harm and neglect whilst they profiteer from cutting services to the most needy in society.

"Client"? Well it's clear what your job is. You would like to know what benefit the trip was to the client? Why? The learning disabled don't have any lesser rights to go wherever they want and do whatever they want without overbearing individuals like you getting on your high horse about where they should go and what they should do. HOW DARE YOU think you can make decisions on any other individual's freedom to life and liberty. It's people like you that cause the learning disabled so much difficulty with your primitive and backward mentality. Your comments say more about you than any poor individual who has the misfortune to be a client of yours.

You cannot possibly predict every event. Someone could have past trauma that has not been disclosed to carers, and has never previously been a problem. It could be something as minor as a the sudden appearance of a particular breed of dog which triggers distress the person, particularly if they have a learning disability and don’t know what is happening, to behave in an entirely unpredictable way. Most of us are not MI5 agents on the lookout for attacks.

If I was planning an outing to the theatre for residents with dementia I’m assessing who is suitable by whether they will be safe on the stairs, will tolerate the journey, will be comfortable in the seat, are not afraid of crowded places, and will not disrupt the performance by continually talking or making noises. Grabbing an audience member from their seat and throwing them over the balcony would not to come in to my mind.

No risk assessment can predict every risk when you are dealing with people or animals.

Its possible that this person had no history of any behaviour that would have indicated this might be a risk. Its possible they moved like lightning. I used to care for a young person who could have climbed up the curtains and swung from a curtain pole before you'd have been out of your seat. Of course, its also possible that they had a history of attacking or throwing toddlers and both staff should have had contact with an arm at all times. Just depends on the risk assessment. YABVU to decide they should be jailed before you know the circumstances.

I regularly see carers accompanying people with learning disabilities on public transport or taking a walk and I can’t remember the last time I saw them actually interacting with the person they were caring for. They were on their phones or talking solely to each other. I understand that it’s a difficult and poorly paid career that’s problematic to recruit to, but I’m horrified that the care is so perfunctory.

It really isn’t possible that their first offence is to throw a child into a crocodile pit
They will have been behaving disturbingly for a very long time, but some pillock has decided to give them the benefit of the doubt

The system definitely does need to be reviewed, and the regulatory bodies need to more supportive of the challenges faced. In Scotland the Care Inspectorate come down hard on homes where people are not out all the time, without taking into account the dependencies of the residents and the current experience level of the current staff. I believe this can contribute to incidents like this happening. I’ve been told the CQC are more supportive, but have never dealt with them.

I really feel for the good carers who genuinely care for those they look. We need to be able to attract and retain them, rather than caring being seen as a job anyone can do. We can teach people the theory, but we cannot teach them to care. It has to be in them. The vulnerable depending on them deserve better.

@damekindness I see this all the time too. In cases of 2/1 support the carers will talk over the learning disabled persons head to talk to each other. Heads down on their phones is another regular event

It’s not possible for a learning disabled adult to develop a completely new, impulsive behaviour?

Okay.

Says who? Oh you must be the fountain of knowledge. Another know it all that doesn't know shit.

I didn’t say that they had form for throwing people in crocodile pits, but there’s absolutely no way that was their first display of impulsive dangerous behaviour. There would’ve been numerous near misses that somebody’s decided to ignore.

How long ago was their first incident then? Seen as you know everything.