@Intercity225
People are pushed into applying for and accepting care work because they are sanctioned if not, and employers are taking them because they care very little for the residents they're getting paid to provide care for and they just need the hours filled, and even then it's the bare minimum staffing they can get away with.
You are pushing a certain view of care homes, which may be your experience of where you have worked; but not all are like that.
Ime, the ones run by charities do care for the residents, because they are not running a business and there is no profit motive. DD is in a care home, where she gets 1:1 care for all her waking hours, and 1:4 at night. Other residents, because of their behaviour may get 2:1, 3:1 or even 4:1. I'd hardly call that the bare minimum staffing? Do you know how much it costs - although DD gets continuing health care funding; and those who don't, will be funded by their local authority?
Iirc, the initial training program is 17 days, and then they do shadowing for a while. However, they get back up from onsite clinical psychologists, social workers, GPs, clinical specialist nurses, mental health nurses, learning disability nurses, speech and language therapists, OTs, and physiotherapists. For instance, if DD's behaviour is getting worse, they will seek advice from the Positive Behaviour Support Team.
However, I do think care workers should be vaccinated. The rest of us have had to take a leap of faith, because we can't see any other way out of this pandemic (apart from letting it rip through the population); and if we have had to swallow any misgivings, then I don't know why anti vaxxers are more special and they put all of us at risk. As for talking about "We want control over what we put in our bodies!" - what about particulates from diesel vehicles, pollution in the air, sewage discharges into seas and rivers, nuclear power, pesticides, antibiotics in farming.....I take it you all eat organic produce?
In 2019 84% of care homes were privately owned by 'for profit' businesses.
So the non for profit charities are in the minority, so no not "all are like that" but the overall experience is likely to be from a for profit business than not.
I'm glad to hear your DDs home has good staff and standards, as well as staffing levels, it's heartening to know to be honest, but I have found that services for younger people tend to be better staffed, I worked in a home for young adults that had a staff ratio of 3:1 at night and 3:2 during the day and was 1:1 for outings - I am currently working 2:16 and that includes 3 people who need hoisting and an end of life resident - all of which need 2 staff present, night and day.
Is the difference funding/fees I wonder?
I don't know how much each individual home costs, it's based on so many things that I couldn't possibly really, I know it is expensive though, although for most homes it covers every expense of life except personal items like hairdressing etc and 24/7 care.
It sounds like your DDs home is putting that back into the care of the people paying, which is how it should be. That should be the model followed by anyone providing care services.
We have GP support, and services set up for care homes to access directly for certain things, however as with everything in the NHS the waiting times are long and what they can actually offer is limited, and has been more so through covid for obvious reasons. Just as an example, care staff now use video calling to a doctor to verify death, no one attends in person, that's quite a responsibility.
And no I don't eat organically, I couldn't afford to even if I wanted to, however I have also been vaccinated so where I'm concerned it's a bit of a non point, I don't have an issue with getting the vaccine personally.
My issue isn't with the vaccine, or a broader vaccination program becoming mandatory, it's with the way the whole thing has been dealt with, the way I feel care workers are continuing to be treated and the demands and expectations placed upon them for very little in return, the blame that's placed and this attitude that the only problem with care and how it's been handled is covid vaccination and once people have stopped shouting about it, it'll all go back to normal and no one will give a stuff any more.
At some point enough has got to be enough and people have got to start treating care workers as worthy members of society rather than the dregs who can't do any better and that means better training, pay, conditions and recognition.