Panorama: elderly care. I think this is going to be hard to watch

[OrmIrian]

Ye Gods. This is terrible and

God it's absolutely awful

Awful :(

It's horrific. There is never any excuse for violence or neglect. :(

Good lord!

I was right. Sadly.

Why do such nasty people get jobs like this?

I also don't get how the managers can suggest that the problem can be solved with training - you don't need training to treat people with basic humab decency.

The telly was on with the sound off.
I could only glance every now and then.
It was much too upsetting to watch. I'm not surprised Fiona was crying.

I had a look at the website for Ash Court today - just out of interest. It's where this happened and it happens to be round the corner from my mum's so felt like it would be "our" local facility if my mum ever needed this (which she doesn't.) The brochure and website look so convincing - and mentions the "love and care that the staff have a seemingly never-ending supply of".

Obviously that was all written by somebody in marketing and whoever is actually responsible for managing and setting the culture is clearly just utterly disengaged.

The thought that one might do all the right research and choose to place a beloved parent there...

I don't think raising the wages would help any of the carers actually bother about the residents though. Maybe it would attract a better sort of person to the job. Any carer found guilty, like the male one was, should have their visa immediately withdrawn and be deported.

My mum is in a local residential home, the staff are all local and really good. She is still able to do some things by herself but her mobility is poor and other issues meant she could no longer live with us. I feel lucky that our experiences have been positive (except for my experiences with the demon of a social worker we had who spoke to my mum like she was half-witted which annoyed her greatly. We ended up with a Carer's Advocate and an Elderly Advocate just to get the social worker to actually listen. Even the care home were stepping in telling the social worker she wasn't understanding the situation.)

Why are caring professions really badly paid ? I am doing voluntary work at a playgroup and the staff there work really really hard. They deserve a lot more pay and respect.
I have not watched this yet but I will catch up with it soon.

Care work has always been badly paid, I work in a large residential home for the elderly and we have 3-4 staff for 40 residents which is about average. The residents who are coming into our home are living longer and their needs are changing..we now have residents in the last stages of Dementia, with severe learning difficulties, challenging behavior...and the list goes on staffs tasks are varied from washing,dressing,and all the other jobs, bed making etc..etc to washing deceased residents bodies to prepare them for the families to view. Because care staff are stretched to their absolute limit frustrations do occur with staff and there is never enough time for relaxed leisure time with the residents...we are looking after residents and offering 'palative' (end of life) care which we didn't do before (they went onto nursing care). Residents with lower level support needs (Independent and mobile) will get angry and abusive to staff because they see the more 'frailer' residents getting a lot more support. I work as an activities leader in my residential home and ensure that 'my residents' lead a good social life and we have some great social evenings, days out, garden parties etc..etc.. and I really put my heart and soul into my work which I love it takes some of the pressure off the staff and enables the residents to chat,socialise,have a laugh and breaks up the day. Care homes are primarily a business and empty rooms lose money so they like them to be full but dont always increase staffing levels. Saying that theres NO EXCUSE for abuse and I'm glad to say all the staff in my home are kind,caring and hardworking and really do care for 'our residents' I have seen and reported abuse first hand and that was in a home with only 10 residents in the home so I don't buy that resident numbers increase the risk of abuse incidents. A sadistic person will always prey on vulnerable animals then people there's no excuse and no justification for this behavior. When I reported an abuser I lost my job and SHE is still working as a 'carer' in the same home even though the top managers are aware of accusations made against her over the years by others too the council in question prides itself on being a multicultural borough and are too frightened of being classed as racist.

I forgot to mention the abuser that I reported was getting paid £10 an hour..I must add that this is rare to get this much as a carer most care work is between £5-7 an hour....BUPA pay minimum wage