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

Examples of true good practice and care need to be replicated- not treated as an anomaly.

I was a good carer who chose social care as my work but was seen as a pain by upper management as I would always go the 'extra mile'. I was accused of being unprofessional more than once because I 'cared too much' and 'lacked distance/ detachment'. They couldn't get rid of me as family of person I cared for loved me. Stayed 17 years til person I cared for died. I was part of a tiny long standing team who were utterly committed. None of us work in Social Care now. Our dedication meant nothing to powers that be and we chose not to be redeployed where we would be expected to work in a cold and distant way.
There has to be a change in ATITUDE in the care industry.

Lovely post StillSquiffy.
It's what I want for my mum.

StillSquiffy - your post shows how important attitude is. Fancy buildings that fit all bureaucratic criteria are worthless if the culture of the care home is uncaring.
Just because something looks good on paper does not mean that it is.

Like Acumenoop I was sadly not surprised by what was shown on Panorama.

It totally can be different though.

I worked in an over 65 psychiatric unit when i lived in Ireland, the building was a total dump, but we had great staff quota's, our residents were loved, it was their home. I was able to give fantastic care and spoil them rotten.
They were brought out on trips, out for lunch, went shopping. We did groups, cooking groups, reminiscence therapy, had a hairdresser to come in.
If they didn't want to get up early then that was fine, would bring them a cuppa in bed, and make them breakfast when they wanted it. They were treated like people.

If someone was dying we had extra staff so someone could sit & hold their hand, no one died alone. Same if someone needed 1-1 care due to their mental health issues.

32 bed unit and we would have minimum of 7 staff on a day shift, (4nurses,3 carers) not including our CNM who was also there and would bath people , get them dressed etc, he was totally hands on not sitting in office. We would often have a couple of students as well, the unit was classed as a centre of excellence, it was run by health board.

Sadly I have never found anywhere like it since.

That's the thing isn't it Fanny- good care [even if acknowledged] is often not replicated or drawn on to create other situations with 'good care'.
I find this so frustrating.

What you describe sounds great Fanny.
'Being treated like people' should be compulsory mind you. It is frightening that such a basic thing- being treated as human- gets lost in parts of the 'Care Industry'. Bet on paper all 'awful places' make claims to be treating people as individuals etc. Easy to talk the talk..............

When we have inspections, all they seem bothered about is the paperwork They do speak to the residents and staff and do some observation, but you can't get to know the 'culture' of the place by doing that. So much goes on behind closed doors that it's usually very difficult to form a true picture of any place

I reported a carer for slapping and swearing at an old lady who had dementia. It was covered up and the carer got away with it. I wish I'd gone to the police now

What I have found most difficult is how on earth do you teach someone to have empathy?
Majority of nursing homes they do the basics, washing, dressing and feeding residents, that's it.
Carers maybe have to get 8 residents up before they can go for break, just becomes all about going for break.
I have watched carers sit on a chair next to a resident and not even speak to them, to me that is automatic, a wee chat & hold their hand.
I try to lead a shift & set an example as I should but when all I have time to do is medications, dressings etc, I can't even keep an eye on what is happening, what the untrained staff are doing.

In a lot of places now they have a "matron" who pretty much sits in an office then a head carer who dispenses meds, can take BP,wtf, any fool can indeed give medication but for Christ sake you need to know what the med is, the contraindications etc, and why you are actually taking someone's BP.

I really do despair.

The work does become automatic and task orientated after a while and there are quality of life issues for the residents. This is what happens when every minute counts and you are constantly just running to stand still. One thing goes wrong and you're knackered for the rest of the shift

I find that the care assistants struggle with full time hours, pressure and suspicion from relatives, basic holidays and basic pay. We receive no 'perks', enhanced hours, sick pay, pension, nothing. We don't even receive any thanks from the manager and I honestly don't know how the carers manage to work full time, it's so soul destroying. They often get attacked by the residents because we have misplaced EMI residents who don't really belong with us, but they're retained because they bring in money.

Some of the carers are getting on now and have chronic health problems and issues. Sometimes they don't get a break and are working 14 hour shifts.

Apparently he didn't fall, he put himself othe floor and his neck wasn't broken when they put him in a hoist and put him in bed, or used a hoist to get him out again .... Or when the ambulance was finally called about 10 hours later and they said he hadn't fallen so they didn't immobilise his neck...
Court case adjourned currently by coroners office

JEsus wept QOD

So sorry to read this.

I posted about this program before it was even on and then I confess I watched it through my hands.... so very hard.

"And again, I say, it's because "the elderly" are held in poor esteem within the culture in the UK. They are seen as a bloody nuisance, slow and grumpy and just a general pain in the rear" MN is proof of that at times sadly.

Well, I sympathise to some extent, in that I do agree those are terrible working conditions and I support unionisation in care work and some collective bargaining, and a stop to the sub-minimum wage cons etc. But OTOH, I haven't had a holiday in 12 years, haven't slept through the night for 3 years, get less than sixty quid a week, no pension, no sick pay, no sick days, in fact do a 24 hour shift, 7 days a week and have done for basically my entire adult life. Yet I've never hit DP, you know? Or thrown him around like a piece of meat. Even when I was totally full-on mental from the workload, I have never done this stuff. And I'm not even particularly nice or caring person, you know, it's just so clearly wrong. It's on the moral level of punching a baby.

So it's not just shit wages and tiredness. It's more than that.

It doesn't cost anything to say hello and look someone in the eye. But it is not standard practice for homecare workers. I think it's because they don't think of DP as fully human. They don't treat him like he's really present. That's how come the rest of it, the abuse, comes so easily. Because he's not really a person like them. He's just a set of motions to go through; like pigeons in a skinner cage: they make the motions and get the peanuts. They don't intellectually or emotionally connect their ritualised motions to any kind of meta goal of caring-for-this-person.

Really sorry to hear the QOD. My sympathies. xx

*that,

What you describe is frightening Acumenoop. People without the empathy to say 'hello' and smile for heavens sake. I agree with you- that if someone sees someone as 'subhuman' they will treat them as objects with no feelings. I find it hard to accept such people exist but they clearly do. The evidence is in both recent Panorama programs I have seen - the Fiona Philips one and the horrendous Winterbourne View Care Home one. Also I have come across unfeeling carers in my time as well as good ones.

Hiddenhome your working conditions sound terrible. It must also be awful for the residents. Soul destroying all round.

I have it easy SunflowersSmile, I'm part time. We all love being able to care for everybody properly. It really makes the job worthwhile.

Just been looking around newspapers on line. In the Daily Mail News bit discussion concerning the death of 94 year old Mrs Darby. Covered in untreated bedsores among other things. Comments at the bottom of the article interesting and varied.
Do carehomes invest in/ manage to get hold of special air flow mattresses etc?
Do they have access to district/ community nurses or is nursing care all in house'?
It seems she died due to non medical interventions eg poor pressure area care, no dietician referral. Also dirty and unkempt. It seems it was not merely being 94 that contributed to her death. [She died in 2007. Took a long time to hit the press].

I couldn't watch the program, I recorded it, but then had to delete. I did read it in the papers though.
MIL has been in and out of a home too, bit worrying :(

Thanks peeps, if we ever get to the bottom of it Ill let you know. The police are being shite to be frank. They questioned the home, the home said nah he was fine. They said oh ok then. The family said "what the actual fuck?" so the went back and said oh yeah are you sure? The home said nah he was fine ....you get my drift.
His spinal cord is currently in London awaiting inspection by a forensic pathologist to ascertain how long prior to his death his neck was broken. Then we will know more.

That says it all QOD. The police were not treating it properly like a suspicious death. Another indication of how people lose the right to be treated like anyone else in society. If I had been found sitting at home on my sofa with my neck broken I would expect my husband [for example] saying he just found me like that would not be answered with 'ok then' by the police.
Glad it is being investigated now. Hellish for your family. Poor man.

He was 80 and had had some strokes, couldn't be at home as MIL has Alzheimer's and dementia etc etc but a lot of thought and care went into his home selection. BIL and one DIL chose it.
He'd been booted from two before for being too problematic.

He couldn't understand why they didn't want him to climb on the dining table or why he couldn't just go in anyone's bedroom as it was his bleddy house! (ummm he had brain damage! They were EMI homes duh)

Such a horrible way, a painful and undignified way to go.

Speaking generally I dont think that it is just the edlerly or disabled or any one particular group I think it is a general situation endemic in society.

If we use here on mumsnet as an example ...... I started on here because I had googled the condition I was going to be operated on for = wanting to just find out other peoples expereince of the condition and the op. I was welcomed warmly and stayed just there for a while and all was "rosy".

What a shock however when I started to explore... so many people calling each other all sorts sweary names just because they did not agree on something. So many people degrading entire sections of the community because of their experience with some /part. So many tirades against parents and inlawsfor example rather than accepting that maybe those people were just trying their best rather than doing / saying things out of malice.

I just cant get over the amount of swearing and disregard for peoples feelings . Whilst there is too a huge amount of support so too is there a heck of a lot of selfishness and expectation that "society" or "eveyone else" has to be perfect. ( that is not meant as an observation for this thread , just general)

It his because we are not visible on a forum ..... partly I think

but also I think its general ... seee it in everyday life..... lots people just so centred on themselves and what "society" owes them. Many of us have become "insular" rather than part of a family /street / village /group.

Hmmmm

such a horrific condition QOD ..... my grandad had it. I hope you find the answers to the question about his death

This thread was not created so you could have a go at MN tazzle.
I'm glad you got support from your OP.
That is what I'm looking for here with an elderly parent.
There have been some developments, regarding my mum, which I'm not happy about, but don't want to discuss it on this thread any more.