to have cried my eyes out over the Panorama programme last night

[cuteboots]

I think its cos my mum and step dad are getting on a bit on years and the thought of them being treated like that would be totally heartbreaking! I wailed my eyes out for a good half an hour

I think you need to provide information about what the program was about.

YANBU. DH and I found it incredibly hard viewing as MIL had to go into a home 10 days ago. We think we found a good one, fingers crossed.

It was about how this one elderly lady was treated in this care home and the daughter put a camera in her room to see what was going on!

I can never work out if vile and cruel people deliberately seek out the very old/young/vulnerable so they can actively hurt them. Or if something in looking after old/young/vulnerable turns reasonably normal people bad.

Care homes, nurseries, the place where those adolescents with MH issues were living. It is appalling and heart-breaking that people who need care are targetted and hurt when they can't protect themselves.

YANBU, that was awful to watch. Even my DH was moved and he's not an emotional person.
It really brought it home when the daughter showed photos of her lovely, vibrant mother when she was younger.
It did at least have a happy ending. I sometimes find Fiona Phillips a patronising so- and- so but I totally get why she felt compelled to hug and kiss the poor lady at the end.

That was a very sad programme.

I manage a nursing home and I found it extremely difficult to watch.
I felt so angry because it doesn't need to be like that.
Heartbreaking.
I told all my staff today that they should work as if there are always cameras on them.

In fact I feel like putting in secret cameras myself (not that I feel I have a problem in my home I might add!)

The hitting I hope and pray is a rare occurrence in care homes [though Winterbourne view would suggest otherwise].
However, the treating of vulnerable people as lesser/ objects / roughly I fear is probably frighteningly common. The care industry needs a complete overhaul in my opinion. It needs to be more 'care' and less 'industry'.
To attract good carers they too need to be respected and valued and given time to 'value' those they support. I was saddened but not at all surprised at what I saw. What goes on behind closed doors- terrifying.

I in the same boat regarding Fiona Phillips but Ive just read her autobiography and the bit in the book where she went through caring for her mum and dad made me see her in a different light. Also when she gave the lady a kiss and hug I totally understood it as well.

Please don't think all carers are like the scum on that program, or that all homes are bleak soulless places like that awful home.

I have a lot of experience of working with the elderly and am neither vile or cruel, nor have I ever worked with anyone that is. Caring is an incredibly difficult job and is almost completely thankless, it is an IMPORTANT job but is viewed by society as the absolute bottom of the pile in terms of respect and wages and that is hard enough to live with without being portrayed by people as disrespectful, violent abusers.

I felt so sorry for the woman last night and fer daughter, It made me cry. In 10years + of working in nursing homes I have never seen anything like it. I hope I never do.

Hi there,

Just to let you know, we've moved this one to 'Telly Addicts'.

Thanks
MNHQ

shocking stuff. I often watch tv covering topics like this but last night's program was truly shocking. I even called in DH to make him watch.
My Gran ended up with Dementia and in a home and thankfully it was nothing like the program last night.

My background is in social care Methe and I too have never seen the out and out awfulness shown on Panorama.
However, I have heard carers objectify people eg calling someone 'The epileptic'. Also I have when long ago [over 20 years] I did some work in a care home for the elderly, witnessed lack of respect and hurried 'care'. I was very young but remember looking at photos in these elderly peoples' rooms and feeling so sad. I would see a young/ attractive/ strong person who was 'someone'. Sometimes I would look at the carer who was being so dismissive and think this person would have run rings round you in their 'prime'.

I have not seen it yet but have definately seen similar.

I have worked in care of the elderly ( was "geriatric care" when I started) at various times in my career from care assistant through nursing to more senior positions.

I would never, ever tolerate disrespect never mind any deliberate abuse but sadly it can and does happen. It is probably rarely deliberate and more a symtom of the "sickness " that infects the care industry as a whole.

As the baby boomer generation disappears from the workforce there are less people generally available to look after an increasing number of people requiring support. Less young people want to do this sort of work, its not seen as "of value" ( younger people generally want more out of a job and wont do "menial" work past generation did like fruit picking / factory work) and those who do are part of a very "mobile" work force that change jobs frequently or get married/ have kids.

The hours are long, the pay abysmal and the work can be hard mentally and physically..... recruitment is hard and I know of several places that recruit fr0m overseas because they cannot find enough staff in uk ( even then still cant get enough staff and have to use agency staff). NO reflection of the quality of either of those groups of staff just that it highlights the shortages.

Add to that the cutbacks in funding , well ...........

and as methe said

None of this is any excuse for abuse or neglect but it does explain why sometimes the staff dont have the time and energy needed to provide the high standard of care everyone deserves.

Personally I do fear for my own future in case I become frail ...... there ARE people who care a great deal in the profession but whthere there are enough of them around, that is the question.

And let's not forget that this is also part of a wider issue - "The Elderly" themselves are not valued by society as a whole, so generally, the folk caring for them are also not valued.
"Geriatrics" as a specialty is often seen as something that anyone can do and it doesn't take much skill, it's not sexy, - but to do it well (ie with real care and compassion) takes supreme skill and dedication.
It's no excuse for what we saw last night but to me the overwhelming problem was that none of those carers saw that lady as a person.
It also highlights the need for regulation of carers. The male Nurse has been struck off from the Nursing Register and is unlikely to find work again as a Nurse in this country but there is nothing to stop the sacked carers from simply moving on to another care home and finding work there.

I have just watched it and despite "knowing" the kind of stuff I might see I was just sooooo shocked at the visciousness of that male staff member. [mad]

The roughness, awful manual handling and lack of any communication by the others is inexcusable even if they are pushed for time.

I agree with wingedharpy ... this lady was just one of the many they would have had to wash, feed, dress and get up by a set time and they did noit treat her as an individual human. Its hard for some people to remember this when the person in the bed cannot respond verbally but to me one of the most very basics is to always, always speak to a person even if they cannot respond .

We did hear one of them say that she recognised that they were not giving the level of care they should because of the pressure they were under ...... I do hope that there were times when she did speak to Maria as she was the only one in the programme that showed any glimmer of interest.

wingedharpy is right. Geriatrics is often seen as a less glamourous part of the care profession ..... but conversely I have interviewed staff new to the profession who say they want to do it because old people are "sweet".
They are therefore , despite training etc,, prepared for the reality ..... old people are just the same as everyone else and can be angry, grumpy and even downright rude too ! Add to that the effects that the psychological effects of the dementia illnesses and physical limitations of alll the various conditions we get as we age ... definately a mix that requires skill to give everyone the best quality we can manage. It is NOT a job that just anyone can do proficiently.

Yet soooooooo many people in the profession say " I am just a carer" ..... they themselves believe that perception. People with very low values of themselves are hardly likey to be able to be positive about their work either. It is a vicious circle.

This thread keeps moving about! Took a while to find it again.
'Caring' does need to be valued and invested in.

What we saw last night could be any one of us in the future...

ILovedaintynuts - My mum and I were discussing whether my aunt's care home would allow us to put a camera in her room, or would we have to do it suruptisously. are there rules about it in your place?

(The reason we want to is that twice my Mum has found her half fallen out of bed in the last month, and no one was on her floor so couldn't hear her shouting. When my mum asked about why no one was about both time it was because they were swapping staff over. we want the camera mainly so that we can check up during the day and then go over and help if needs be as mum is just round the corner., she is in a care not a nursing home though we may need to move her soon)

Had a think. Of course this thread is appropriate for 'elderly parents'. I think it started in 'chat'? Went to 'Telly addicts' and now here.
In a way it is being 'hidden' and sidelined.
Why not 'chat'? This issue affects us all and should get as wide an audience as possible.

oh, started in AIBU.
Even so needs BIG audience.

Anyone agree with me? I am actually feeling cross about this. I bet some people who were looking at this thread are wondering where the hell it has gone.

I asked for it to be moved from Telly Addicts but didn't ask for it to be moved here. I just thought it was ridiculous to put such a serious topic in section as frothy as TA. Sunflower why don't you ask for it to be moved to Chat as it should get a wider audience? I don't understand why it was moved from AIBU in the first place.

I have asked why in 'site stuff' bisjo [last night] - but so far no response.

This upset me too - a very similar thing as the programme which showed what was going on at the Winterbourne Down hospital for people with learning difficulties. It was heartbreaking to see that poor, confused woman crying 'Oh dear, oh dear' in response to being hit.

It is truly chilling to see what some people will do when they think nobody is watching. What the hell is wrong with them?? :(

Winterbourne View abusers should be sentenced soon perceptionreality. I think they all pleaded guilty [what choice did they have?]. However I await with interest to what their sentences will be.
The hitting carer last night only got 18months I think.