Share your adult social care experiences with CQC - chance to win £300! NOW CLOSED!

[EmmaMumsnet]

We are working with CQC (Care Quality Commission), who through a current campaign #CareAware would like to make the public more aware of their inspection reports and ratings which can help people make informed decisions if you are choosing home care or a care home. With this aim in mind, they would like to hear your experiences of adult social care.

Here’s what CQC have to say: "Choosing care can be a real worry for people, their families and carers, wondering who or where to turn to – but CQC can help. The public needs to know about the quality of care services available and they also need to be reassured that if there are any problems, these are being identified and tackled.

That is why we publish regular inspection reports with quality ratings on more than 20,000 individual care services registered with CQC. This means that people have access to clear, independent and trusted information to help them make the right decisions for them or their loved one.

People can be confident that we find most care services in England are providing good, safe care. For those that need to do better, or are not getting any better, we take appropriate action to ensure providers either improve or stop providing care altogether.’"

Perhaps you want to share your experience of choosing a care home for yourself or a loved one – and want to share your tips with others in that position? Maybe you chose home care for yourself or for a friend, partner or relative? Or perhaps you want to tell us about your plans and conversations you are having with your family so that you or they do not have to make a rushed decision.

Whatever your experiences are, share them on the thread below and everyone who comments will be entered into a prize draw, where one lucky winner will win a £300 voucher of their choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck

MNHQ

Standard Insight T&Cs apply

The CQC is responsible for inspecting all hospitals, including private hospitals, GP practice, dentists, care homes, residential home and care provided in peoples own home in England.

Each inspection answers five key questions: Is the service safe? Is it effective? Are the staff caring and responsive to people’s needs and is the service well led?

My Dad has early onset dementia and we are having to consider when it may become appropriate for him to choose a supported care facility. CQC reports give people the reassurance they need to make a decision for their loved ones

We made unannounced visits to care homes when choosing a care home for a relative. The care homes we looked at all had good cqc reports and welcomed us immediately. I also spoke to HCPs in the area to ask their unofficial opinions of the care homes.

None so far but terrified about it.

As far as the CQC is concerned I would like to think that the inspections were unannounced - or what's the point of arriving with prior notice so then home can prepare and get things in order. As for my experience, we looked for a home for my husbands 90 year old gran, who lost her sight and was not able to live alone. We looked at a couple. and they had long waiting lists and no rooms available, so we looked at some CQC inspection reports, and were put off as they ' required improvement' we contacted the local council also to see if they carried out independent inspections, they said they did, but would not give details, but that gave me some extra assurance that homes were inspected by another external agency. We found a residential home around 20 miles away who were able to offer a single room, with a choice of menu, and had a comments and complements book in the foyer completed my friends family and short stay residents which gave us some reassurance. Gran has been there for 6 months and is happy to have company, her meals made and her hair done, as she gets lots of visitors, I feel that if she had any concerns that she would tell us and we could act on this. As for residents with no visitors, or who have dementia and cannot communicate I do worry about those cases, and would hope that the CQC would be their eyes, ears and voice, but as the inspections are 3 yearly ?? I think they should be more frequent, or have more frequent spot checks with no prior appointment.

I have used the CQC reports as a starting point, but agree that it's important to see for yourself what the home is really like, away from planned inspections.
I'd like the reports to include information about staff turnover and the proportion of outside /agency staff used, as I think this would be useful.

An elderly person I knew with dementia wandered out of the care home she lived in. It was in a rural area, country roads. She was not missed. Some distance away she fell and was injured (not badly but bruised) Eventually someone found her, a confused and hurt elderly lady, and finally someone found where she lived. She still had not been missed. The person's family decided not to take it further. CQC gave the care home a 'good' at the next inspection. This was a few years ago now but I've been sceptical ever since.

As someone who has worked for Aduly Social Care for the loacal council I have a different view, I can say that the staff care greatly and would love to do more and give additional support and services but the financial constraints reduce the services that can be purchased and the time that can be spent.

The things that made our family choose me grandmother's care home included having her own en suite facilities to ensure she is able to retain her dignity and privacy, a view of the street outside (she is reclusive but loves to people watch!), and staff that were understanding of her needs - she doesn't want to be badgered into taking part in activities as she has always been shy and prefers her own company,

• the staff respect that. My tips for finding a suitable home would be to ask lots of questions and, if a resident wants a chat when you have a look around, have a chat! We were so reassured when the lovely gentleman in the room opposite my gran's called me and my mum into his room just for a little chat - he was so lovely and happy that he made the decision easy for us! Obviously you wouldn't force yourself on a resident with a list of questions, but if the home have a resident that likes a cup of tea and a natter then ask if that would be possible.

I work as a carer for my second job, and it's the little things
I try to remember who wants washing in hot water, who prefers tepid, who likes a good scrub, who has fragile skin. People with sore feet that I will use wipes to wash them. If I can put lotion on, or scented talc, or perfume, or hand cream. That X loves carrots but Y hates them, so I don't cook them for her. That X is terrified of being hoisted so we do it as little as possible and I hold her hand
That Y always rummages in my tunic pocket for sweets when I roll her over, so I put her favourite sweets in my pocket!
Or that X has dementia and can't tell you but she loves watching football so we check when it's on and turn the TV over
Tiny tiny little things that make us all individual humans. I honestly thought I would be shit at care but I get good reports!

I think one of the hardest things is talking to people about what they want and need. It's really important that they are involved as much as possible with their own care.

I worked on a care home with 3 adults with disabilities. A new manger and her sidekick arrived. The sidekick said blatantly that we were all going to be leaving if she had her way. She abused the residents to the point where one rocked every time he knew she would be on shift.
As a staff team we complained, wrote statements, gathered evidence and even were at one point going to refuse her entrance and block the door because of her abuse. We went to our managers then CQC who did nothing - the council safeguarding team which is meant to be confidential actually contacted my area manager to tell her I had made a complaint and I got a phone call that same day. I went ballistic as you can imagine - they can phone about me but not give 2 hoots about the vulnerable residents. All that was done was that SHE "for HER own safety" from us was moved, she went off sick, claimed we were all racist, sued the company and got a huge payout.
The rest of us stayed on caring for our residents until it was decided a few years later that even though these 3 residents had been told it would be their "home for life" when they were moved out of their hospital home that they have lived in for most of their lives, the council closed the home and they had to find other places.
The residents, as much as they could let us know as they were mainly non verbal, were devastated. As were we. We fought as much as possible the decision, again got CQC involved who were not interested in this side of care, but we were just carers and only fit to do the dirty work, not actually have an opinion of our residents who we had known for decades.
There is little respect for CQC around my area, it is like Ofsted - school and care homes should be visited without warning to see the real truth not this ridiculous sanitised version.

Fortunately (for everyone, really, being as one in seven of us are, or will become disabled at some stage and a great many of us will eventually need some form of adult social care) not all residential homes are “vile places of work”. I work in one in an administrative capacity so I am not biased about the standard of care I see as I am not a carer myself.

Some people are born carers. And what people don’t realise is that being a carer is one of the most important jobs in the world. People don’t realise it because it is underpaid and under-valued in every way so carers often don’t even recognise their own importance. But good care from a good carer is worth it’s weight in gold. A good carer can literally change a person’s day, week, life. They have so much responsibility to do the job well and some of them really DO.

Not all carers are excellent carers but many of them are.. and are quietly going about their work changing and improving the lives of the most vulnerable people. My experience of the CQC is that, for the most part, they are getting better at recognising good practice when they see it. And also better at recognising bad practice that has been hidden by last-minute efforts to conceal it.

I work for a national provider that is very specialist. I’d say that most inspectors have a special interest in a certain area and the quality of the inspection depends on that.
The homes we have differ in quality for many reasons - the CQC inspection results seem pretty random to me. We have some exceptional homes that don’t get good yet other homes do. There really is no consistency. Some of the homes I worry about have an outstanding rating - they do the headline stuff but the basics worry me.
Without wishing to out myself we support people with communication issues and cqc frequently turn up without interpreters. So, they can’t ask for feedback from the people we care for.
Honestly - it’s hit and miss, depending on the inspector.
I would love to be able to feedback on the quality of the inspection and inspectors without fear of reprisals.
The input of the healthcare professionals we deal with daily are really important but their views are not always requested.
I’m happy to give more information anonymously. I think CQC need a critical friend.

BIL and I had to choose a nursing care home for MIL 4.5 years ago. Due to a severe stroke she was NHS funded so we had a limited choice of where there were funded beds available.

There were two places locally, I went to view both. The first an amazing stately home, the other more modest, set round a courtyard arrangement.

Honestly nothing is better than viewing these places for yourself.

We saw the room in the first, upstairs, near the dirty laundry bin which smelt. The window was high up so no view for MIL to look out. (Mil is bedbound so the actual room was most important, not the activities the home offered.)

The second home had a ground floor room with a view over the gardens. The building wasn't as grand and not in as good repair but the staff were warm and friendly. And the dirty laundry bin isn't kept near the rooms.

It was an excellent choice, MIL is still going, still bedbound with aphasia and no recognisable words, but she really enjoys being there. The staff love her and she loves them. And she's somehow made friends and flirt with the gardener!

We feel lucky to have got it right. Two of her sister's have joined her there too.

The whole journey has been stressful though and now her NHS funding has stopped we have the worry of how to keep her there. Neither us nor BIL is in a position to 'top up' her funding (young families, bill etc) so we're worried she may be moved somewhere cheaper and we have no say...

My DS has severe issues that were referred to Adult social care in somerset nearly 2 years ago. I forgot about this referral as nothing seems to happen over a period of time I thought they weren't accepting the referral for some reason.
About one month ago I had a call from adult social care 'playing catch up', asking me if we still wanted an assessment, | said yes and we arranged a call back, which she didn't do.....

I visit many homes in the course of my work and find that many decisions are ruled by a fear of CQC but there are often misunderstandings about what CQC expect to see. This can take the focus away from providing the best care for the residents.
I have found at times that the care is often better in ramshackle run down places than shiny expensive palaces. It's all about the culture management instills in staff, how much importance they attach to non-mandatory training for example. And how responsive they are to residents' needs outside the schedule, e.g can you get a snack outside of mealtimes?

I visit many homes in the course of my work and find that many decisions are ruled by a fear of CQC but there are often misunderstandings about what CQC expect to see. This can take the focus away from providing the best care for the residents.
I have found at times that the care is often better in ramshackle run down places than shiny expensive palaces. It's all about the culture management instills in staff, how much importance they attach to non-mandatory training for example. And how responsive they are to residents' needs outside the schedule, e.g can you get a snack outside of mealtimes?

I visit many homes in the course of my work and find that many decisions are ruled by a fear of CQC but there are often misunderstandings about what CQC expect to see. This can take the focus away from providing the best care for the residents.
I have found at times that the care is often better in ramshackle run down places than shiny expensive palaces. It's all about the culture management instills in staff, how much importance they attach to non-mandatory training for example. And how responsive they are to residents' needs outside the schedule, e.g can you get a snack outside of mealtimes?

So sorry, I didn't mean to post three times. Admin, if you can, please delete two of my posts.

We've just had a fantastic experience with an elderly relative having a week of respite care in a local home. Now he's home it's back to visiting carers, the majority of whom very sadly appear to not care in the slightest

CQC is a good thing in theory but in practice it will not solve everything, and it is very time consuming . People are right, I have myself prepared documents for evidence of practice the reality is the practice may not be applied. the Key areas measured " I call it SCREW" ....safe? caring? effective? responsive to people’s needs? well-led? I accrued over 500 pieces of evidence to demonstrate our CQC compliance. I also encourages staff to be honest with inspectors if they had concerns, I took me over 200 hours , and 10 hours of group staff meetings to get the staff ready . It did make me and the staff reflect on what we are doing and what we should be doing but mainly it reinforce good practice. But standards do slip, it is hard.. but a good effective manager should be returning to the evidence regularly and making sure that what you say is happening is happening.

Easily see why some manager at homes where financial pressure and low staff numbers that standards slip so easily

share your experience of choosing a care home for yourself or a loved one – and want to share your tips with others in that position? Maybe you chose home care for yourself or for a friend, partner or relative? Or perhaps you want to tell us about your plans and conversations you are having with your family so that you or they do not have to make a rushed decision.

my mum says she wants to go to sheltered housing rather than a care home because she want to be with people of a similar age who love life, trips to Blackpool, and remain independent but with a warden overseeing the housing. When/If the time comes I would like to visit as many care homes as I could, there have been so many 'investigations' into staff treating their residents very badly, physically and mentally, I would want to see a home which has had good CQC ratings, a matron who has been in post for many years, and staff who are well trained. As for my mum, the menu would be important too, I would want to see freshly made food - not heated from frozen tasteless food. I would want to see a good itinerary of outings, a TV in her room, and the option of CCTV in her room, (or is that OTT ?)

I would say that is an issue, recalling dealing with SS. It's not the customers issue whether care is funded by NHS or SS. It got quite tiring if I'm honest, hearing oh but that issues NHS funding, this is SS. I honestly didn't think I needed to be aware of any of it.

I still don't have a carer despite all this kerfuffle years back. I've dealt with 2 different trusts so to speak, the first was reluctant and only when my ex verbalised he couldn't cope and it wasn't fair on him they actually decided to do something. By that point it was too late and we split. So I moved to a new area.

I'm waiting to be housed, another joy in itself, being under 60 but needing the resources of an elderly person. I guess I should get an occ therapy review, possibly adding in SS.

What annoys me is a lot of people fight for DP for example as it has been the 'in' thing if you're 'supposedly' unwell. Like everything else it leads to those who are genuinely ill & have been so for a long time to suffer, as you find such people have a different temperament. They only ask when in fact desperate, but their demeanour, not one of 'let's not wash our hair, lie on the sofa, practising our best poorly sick voice' let's them down, as they literally push themselves to limits that are dangerous. I'm sure this applies to many elderly persons too.

For example I knew a person who was terminal with cancer, had it everywhere, you honestly wouldn't know until they mentioned it. That person, similar to myself, wasn't going to let it win. Good on them, they were to me legendary as many would just give up. They had some assessment I think it was, at home as the GP wrote how ill the person was, they weren't believed because they showed so much tenacity and resilience.

Surely professionals should be aware of differing personalities and coping mechanisms.

My best example, a person with Oscar grade acting abilities gets 40/50 hours care weekly, this was a few years back. People I know with severely disabled children (from birth to 100) struggled to get 10 hours.

That's why family is reluctant to help as they're scared of being labelled next of kin, due to incurring costs etc.

IME it's such an emotional rollercaster and I've found that at the start it can be a relief to find somewhere suitable but like reviews for all manner of things/services, you have to do your own research and take any report s a fraction of tge reality. Along with scheduled reviews, no warning inspections should be made not to catch people out, after all stressed staff are not good for anyone, but to see how things run on a regular day and what help to do a good job is actually needed.

Such a difficult subject for so many reasons.....As a foster carer and an advocate for adults faced with various care needs and decisions I feel most strongly that all the time a person is able they should be the main decision maker...enabling people to make informed choices is so very important. My own parents are still living in their own home with a little support and they can not envisage themselves living anywhere else - I will of course support them in all their decisions but should the need arise then personal visits with my parents to actually look and get a feel for a place would be priority. A care home may 'tick all the boxes' on paper but it still may not be the right place for you