my experience of care homes

At last some sense...I agree not all homes have the same practices and should not be tarred with the same brush...well said Emma. I was put off from contributing to this site because it seemed like a lot of home bashing going on by people who may have an axe to grind.
 Dr. Taleb Durgahee

Palm Court and Keller House Centre of Excellence in Dementia Care
PREFERRED PROVIDER OF DEMENTIA CARE FOR EAST SUSSEX COUNTY COUNCIL
Provides Nurse Education and Overseas Nurse Programme
In Collaboration With Brighton University

17-19 Prideaux Road, Eastbourne, East Sussex, BN21 2ND
Tel: 01323 721911
Fax: 01323 410244

www.palmcourtnursinghome.co.uk

E-mail is not a secure communication medium. Please be aware of this when replying. Although DFB Care Ltd has taken steps to ensure that this e-mail and any attachments are virus free, we can take no responsibility if a virus is actually present and you are advised to ensure that the appropriate checks are made.

On Wed, Jan 13, 2010 at 5:14 PM, anita baldry <[log in to view email address]> wrote:

> At last someone has highlighted the problems i have  encountered in care
> homes.I was a whistleblower and have had exactly the same problems as
> you.The inspections are a farce and everything was well prepared in advance
> as you said (There is no such thing as an un-.announced inspection!!!) As
> long as all the boxes are ticked nobody worries about the problems,Staff
> that do speak to inspectors are either handpicked or under threat of the
> sack if they say anything about care standards.
>
>
>
>
>

i agree that all care homes are not bad places to ensure good care for clients. I work in a nursing home and am proud to work there. Yes at times activities dont always go to plan, but at times the media dont give credit to carers for the good we do. This week a gentleman was welcomed into our home. He was sent from a hospital with a pyjama top under his jacket. No vest or jumper. A pair of slippers with no socks. It was freezing outside. He arrived with a bag of dirty clothing which had to be sluice washed. His second pair of slippers had a wet pair of socks that were mouldy. Is this the service that the NHS promotes. I have taken it upon myself to write to the hospital and ask is this good management. Why do these people slip through the net? It makes me so angry. All we hear is about care holmes.What about some hospitals that let this disgusting behaviour happen?. There is good and bad in everything, good and bad carers. Well i am speaking for those who do care and raise concerns. Why isnt the message getting though to some agencies?. We need to work together to ensure the correct care needs are met its team work.

This is not dignity - I would suggest that you report this NHS organisation to the Care Quality Commission - if you are based in England. The more these type of incidents are reported the more they will realise that it is happening.

Copy your letter to the CQC or ring them.

I wish that more people would do this .

Regards,

Lorraine
A Dignified Revolution

I think that you want to be grateful that you have care homes to comment on. Durham County Council has joined the ranks of councils closing down care homes good as well as bad. I call Dignity in Care being responsible to ensure that the elderly and severely disabled who because of mental and health grounds have moved into a home and find that the Council find them an easy target to make budget savings. We are fighting home closures in Durham but need support I have written two emails to the Lead in Durham area and the Secretary but have received no response which I find upsetting. After all if we do not stand up for the vulnerable in our community who will?
My mother now 93 blind, severely impaird in movement and in the early stages of dementia is faced with a major upheaval which statistics tell us will have a further devastating effect on her physical and mental health even to the possibility of causing her death. NO ONE CARES ANYMORE and all I get from the council is soundbites and as they have called for a three line whip when the final decision is taken the consultation they are holding is a sham.
What can we do to stop this?

Hi, sadly there are a lot of people who care , but it takes personal intervention and nagging endlessly to make things happen . And even then it may not happen , but you have for your own conscience sake , to keep trying . And don`t forget the press they are very powerful locally and nationally , and if you have a relative who gives permission then you can take a picture of whatever abuse is going on . I agree entirely that Adult Social Services are entirely on the side of the Council , why wouldn`t they be, their salaries and pensions depend on the Council , so they aren`t going to rock any boats ....as another blogger has said, the Care Inspection unit are useless, and there is no such thing now as an unannounced visit , I only wish there was .......the home I am involved with hasn`t had any inspection since Dec 2008 but I am going to write and write and write until I get an answer from them .
I have a godmother aged 93 who sounds to be suffering in the same way as your mother and I entirely empathise .
There is a wonderful solicitor called Yvonne Hossack who is the champion of old people who saved our council run home some years back , but she is constantly being threatened by the Legal Aid commission and others who are trying to get her disbarred as she causes the authorities in particular local authorities a lot of trouble . She has in the past got injunctions or judicial reviews to stop councils closing homes, and used the very arguments you are using that a change of environment can be a cause of death , very old very frail people tend to just give up on trying to get used to new carers , new routines ......
I would ring the local papers, the national papers, the local tv news programmes ,and Yvonne Hossack .........you sound angry enough to make this work !!!!

I agree that Yvonne Hossacks is a good route to follow she is a thorn in the side of many local authorities she is acting on behalf of my 93 yr old mother and many others in the home that is being threatened with closure by the council who do not care about the old folk in the community.

We have the backing of the local press and have been on radio and TV but to get anything done you need the legal action as your mainstay.

I think many care homes are trying to change and become a better home for the residents, but this is something that cannot change overnight. It will take time but it will happen. The more people trying to make a differance the sooner change will occur.

I agree, Tracy. It is not all doom and gloom out there. We have positive changes and improvements taking place and some people have the ability to recognise it. You sound like you are one of us Tracy. Keep eyes open to improvements!
 Dr. Taleb Durgahee

Palm Court and Keller House Centre of Excellence in Dementia Care
PREFERRED PROVIDER OF DEMENTIA CARE FOR EAST SUSSEX COUNTY COUNCIL
Provides Nurse Education and Overseas Nurse Programme
In Collaboration With Brighton University

17-19 Prideaux Road, Eastbourne, East Sussex, BN21 2ND
Tel: 01323 721911
Fax: 01323 410244

www.palmcourtnursinghome.co.uk

E-mail is not a secure communication medium. Please be aware of this when replying. Although DFB Care Ltd has taken steps to ensure that this e-mail and any attachments are virus free, we can take no responsibility if a virus is actually present and you are advised to ensure that the appropriate checks are made.

thank you Taleb I am studying a degree in psychology, whilst working at a rest home as an activities co-ordinator and plan to detecate as much as I can to helping. I am not the only one out there, together we can all make a differance :)

Great Tracey. Keep up the good work and I am sure we can make a difference. Good luck.
 Dr. Taleb Durgahee

Palm Court and Keller House Centre of Excellence in Dementia Care
PREFERRED PROVIDER OF DEMENTIA CARE FOR EAST SUSSEX COUNTY COUNCIL
Provides Nurse Education and Overseas Nurse Programme
In Collaboration With Brighton University

17-19 Prideaux Road, Eastbourne, East Sussex, BN21 2ND
Tel: 01323 721911
Fax: 01323 410244

www.palmcourtnursinghome.co.uk

E-mail is not a secure communication medium. Please be aware of this when replying. Although DFB Care Ltd has taken steps to ensure that this e-mail and any attachments are virus free, we can take no responsibility if a virus is actually present and you are advised to ensure that the appropriate checks are made.

It is absurd to suggest there is no such thing as an unannounced inspection. Of course there is, and in the days when my wife and I ran our own nursing home it was a normal fact of life. That is why you always have to be ready, always good, and always have systems in place which work.
But you are right to say the inspection regime is a farce. Personal opinion of the inspector counts a lot, and I know of one inspector who actually told lies about homes and their staff just to get them into trouble.
If we are talking about dignity and financiual abuse, how about the local authorities who still only pay around £500 per week for full on nursing care for a frail older person (at a time when it costs at least £750 to keep a prisoner in jail)? That works out at less than £3 per hour for round the clock nursing care. The best care homes all have to charge more than the local authority will pay, as it is the only way they can maintain standards

Well said Mr Makin. Inspectors are the most unreliable source of data about nursing homes. The inspection reports say a lot about the inspectors than the homes. Indeed, if one was to cost everything that is done for a resident in  a nursing home, the fee would be enormous...more than £750. It is easy, just sit down with a pen and paper and jot down what is provided for a resident in its simplest form. Just do it.....its an eye opener.
 Dr. Taleb Durgahee

Palm Court and Keller House Centre of Excellence in Dementia Care
PREFERRED PROVIDER OF DEMENTIA CARE FOR EAST SUSSEX COUNTY COUNCIL
Provides Nurse Education and Overseas Nurse Programme
In Collaboration With Brighton University

17-19 Prideaux Road, Eastbourne, East Sussex, BN21 2ND
Tel: 01323 721911
Fax: 01323 410244

www.palmcourtnursinghome.co.uk

E-mail is not a secure communication medium. Please be aware of this when replying. Although DFB Care Ltd has taken steps to ensure that this e-mail and any attachments are virus free, we can take no responsibility if a virus is actually present and you are advised to ensure that the appropriate checks are made.

The change that needs to take place is a cultural one, a move away from task orientated care to a more person centred approach. As awareness of this grows so too will the speed of change.

www.netleypartnerships.co.uk
www.youtube.com/user/netleypartnerships

Hi i totally agree. How can we start to make the change any more ideas.

I agree Joyce. The NHS hospitals do need to pull their socks up over the way some of the patients are treated. I wouldn't let my mum be admitted as I knew she wouldn't be fed as she was sleeping more than she was awake. I took her back to the home where she was brilliantly cared for.

Do have a look at the My Home Life website if you want to be cheered up about good practice in care homes.

However, balance this with some reports from Gary Fitzgerald at Action on Elder Abuse where he has looked at 100 care homes to see how effective inspectors are or are not in enforcing contraventions of the Care Standards Act regulations. www.elderabuse.org.uk

I am not sure where you look to find good practice in the NHS in England but in Wales the NLIAH website offers some good examples and hopefully once the Dignity in Care programme has a website you will see more evidence of good practice as well as on individual Health Boards sites as they develop.

However, what we do need is a commitment for the 'lieutenants' on the ground (the Senior nurses and managers in the NHS) and the care workers 'at the coal face' (the nurses, other healthcare workers and social care workers ) to monitor the practice that they see day to day and REPORT bad practice immediately, note the time and the date and be like a terrier until the practice changes.

A Dignified Revolution wrote an article about what should be done and it is on our website.

Contact A Dignified Revolution or look at our website for how we can support you.

Pretty exhausting but change does come in the end if one is persistent and has support to be persistent. Look at what happened at Mid Staffordshire hospital once the reports were instigated.

Regards,

Lorraine

Nursing Home used to be that aging people would stay in their homes as long as possible. When they could no longer care for themselves, they would move in with a relative or - if there was no other option - go into a nursing home. These situations were far from ideal for many reasons, a major one being that it becomes increasingly difficult to pull up roots as we age. At the moment older adults ceased to be able to function at home, they had to sell a house, distribute belongings to relatives and deal with the logistics of starting over somewhere else. As a result, many people stayed at home far too long, subjecting themselves to a great deal of danger and often a shortened life.

http://www.wellness.com/find/nursing%20home

I will need to read through these properly when I have got enough time, but I would like to make one point, addressing something raised by Taleb.

I am very aware (I read the Nursing Times posts) that many HCPs become very irritated, by 'the never-ending tide of negative publicity'. But although I can see it must be utterly galling to be providing good care, and to only ever see media coverage of the examples of bad care, please bear in mind two things:

1) We (the public) are forever being told by politicians, hospital bosses, etc, that 'we aim to provide good care' - so we expect to experience good care;

2) No good landing of an airliner, ever made the News Headlines: we EXPECT a safe landing, and it is only the crashes that ever get reported (also, it is only the crashes, from which any lessons can be learnt).

Sadly not good.
I worked in a care home for seven years. I reported abuse repeatedly and it was ignored totally, in the end due to my utter frustration I lots my temper and called a carer a Lazy b****rd, when I caught him persuading a 98 year old resident not to attend an activity as he would be late for lunch.

I lost my job.

Sadly when CQC visit these staff are never allowed to work or are warned we have a visitor.

There is no one response that can be given to the issues raised in these postings - I too have lifted my head above the parapet and paid the price for my actions. All I can say is my conscience was clear for having reported poor or inappropriate practice - it would not have been clear if I hadn't. I learnt from my actions - someone said you can't win the war but you can win the battles and over time I have continued to win significant battles because I haven't given up. I agree with Mike there is some wonderful practice/services out there - delivered in a positive culture - it is so good to hear about them - too take action for Dignity Action Day - we ask the question Do you have time for Digni-tea lets answer it with a resounding yes!! I do appreciate all of you who write hear with negative experiences but I do congratulate you for flying the flag for dignity - the more people that do this the quicker we will make a difference.