Care home staff - is this typical

[Rattrapjudy]

DF is in a care home, has dementia, lacks capacity, barely verbal.

He’s been a care home for five months. We chose it carefully and were initially happy - first couple of months the staff were very engaging and warm and always looked like they were attending to the needs of residents, or sitting alongside and chatting with them.

The home is now busier (opened another floor) and there’s alot of staff that are either new or agency, unsure which. I appreciate we don’t visit at busy times, when residents are getting up, washed/dressed, meal times, bedtimes etc, so there will be lots of staff activity we don’t see, but when we visit some of the newer staff seem to do so little. It’s not a specific visiting time - we vary when we go. My concerns are staff sitting together in corridors on their phones, while residents are sat in day room not engaging with anyone, staff so engrossed in their phones that we’ve said hello or goodbye to them and they’ve not acknowledged. Also staff having to be told by the more established care assistants that a buzzer is going off, despite it being really loud and annoyingly obvious. In fairness to the staff in question I thought they may be on a break, but when I asked one she said she wasn’t.

Is this typical? I get that phones may be a way of accessing some info relating to a residents care, but the staff who first cared for DF were hardly on phones.

I’m concerned that if even if DF is having his basic needs met (and no reason to think he isn’t) that these staff aren’t engaging him beyond that. We also have concerns that on the last visit DF was walking down the corridor past one worker with her not looking up from her phone. He’s a falling risk and previously his walking was supported by a worker when he needed toilet or exercise.

Does this sound like something to raise with the home? We are worried about the possible implications for DF but also conscious of needing to be his voice and ensure he’s safe and mentally stimulated.

I think that sounds unusual. I worked in a care home and staff were strongly discouraged from having phones on them on shift. Even parents were asked to give office number to school etc rather than keep phone for emergencies.

I get that phones may be a way of accessing some info relating to a residents care,

One care home I know of says they use handheld devices for making notes about patients, so they may look as if they are on phones, but are not, they say.

If they are new staff, maybe they are also doing training on the devices.

But if there's a particular established member of staff you know and like, you could have a word.

There are notices up in my dad's care home to advise that staff use phones to access and update records and if you see them using them it isn't personal use

I would mention it to the manager. In my experience staff in big care homes have a big turnover and the professional ethos can be lost if there are lots of inexperienced or bank staff and the manager doesn't stay on top of it

Even if they are using a device to update care notes, they should still be looking after your DF, especially as he's a fall risk. I would have calm, quiet word with the manager and just say I was concerned and please can they explain. It may be they are not aware of it happening now they've opened a new floor or something else has occurred. In my DM's care home I never saw a member of staff on a device at all.

Tbh even if the handheld devices are purely for professional purposes, what you’re seeing is that the use of them appears to be affecting the quality of care provided to your DF. Just because they’ve introduced these devices doesn’t mean it’s an improvement or that they couldn’t take them out again. But the executive currently getting a bonus for being an amazing change agent and facilitating a wonderful tech change needs to hear that on the ground, the impact has been disastrous.

Agree. I also never saw a staff member apparently using a phone in my dad's care home. Or tbh sitting down unless they were engaging with a resident! Have a word with the manager.

Thank you all for your comments. I will feedback to the manager.

I’ve never seen a staff member on a phone at the care home I visit regularly.

Staff often chat with the residents including the admin team who eat with them in the dining room. It’s very homely.

I’d raise your concerns.

I don’t work in a care home but have visited a few family members in them over the last few years.

I would say this is unusual and not acceptable.

One of our relatives had recently been in a similar home. It was there choice yp go there and we knew it would be for a few short weeks.

It was awful. Staff on phones or hiding. Buzzers going off and smelt of wee. Totally different to the last experience we’d had of the same care home. No change in ownership but there had been a change in management.