use of carers at mealtimes

By a detrimental impact do you mean that it puts pressure on your mum to hurry up and eat, or that there is nobody available to help her eat if she needs some assistance?

I don't work in a nursing home but am often struck by how few people are available to help residents eat when they are unable to feed themselves. Meal times should be a pleasure; relaxed, enjoyable and sociable - just as they are in our own homes. They should not be stressful unpleasant times.

I appreciate that carers have a difficult job that is often undervalued and I therefore believe that it is the task of the relative to ensure that standards are high and well being and dignity maintained.

So well done for raising the subject and I hope you get lots of responses from the other dignity champions.

This might be useful http://www.bestcareblog.co.uk/?p=264

I used to work in a care home where the workers cleared the plates and cutlery after lunch however the kitchen staff set the tables and the pots were washed in a dishwasher, I think in most care homes the carers have to clear the tables and wash post.

I work in a care home and couldn't agree more that it is a detrimental issue that there aren't enough staff to assist residents with dining issues, in my experience it often means that some residents are either made to wait for their meal whilst carers move along the tables from one resident to another, some homes don't have enough staff , but luckily for me I've just moved homes and the staff here have a system where all staff, are trained to offer assistance to residents at meal times, from the manager to the handyman, residents are all encouraged to join together at meal times for what can be for some the only time they want to socialise in the day.

I agree, there are not enough care staff in homes these days, to deal with the greater illness's of the people that now enter these homes. These elderly people have a greater decline in health compared to say ten years ago when i first came into care.
This i feel is due to the authority's trying to keep them in the community a lot longer, to be looked after by neighbours friends and family. By the time they get into care homes their mental health and physical health is extremely poor thus requiring a lot more time and more than one staff to meet their basic human needs.
I feel that unfortunately this is were the conflicts of interest arise between the amount of staff required within a care home and what the bosses of these homes are willing to pay out in minimum wages.
In one care home i worked in the annual inspection report stated that the home needed to base thier staff requirements on the dependency level of the client. This was argued at many meetings, ie staff v mangers, the reply was always the same, RATIO'S.

Its time these fat cats at the top of these homes stopped takin bonus's and huge salary's and put more of the profits back into the elderly. Lets start looking at dependency of these frail elderly people and give them the life and care that they should recieve not the care that will get us past the next inspection.

Even if we only get extra care staff to help out at meal times it would be a start, and im sorry but i really dont think using the handyman to assist with meal times is anyway dignified, if this is the case then we might as well get anybody of the street to come help.

Protected meal times, dinning room experience, come on bosses, give us the tools to do the job in the dignified manner that meal times should be presented.

we as carers where i work dont do dishes .we have two sittings at meal times the first one is for those who need assistance with eating and drinking.the second one is for those who just need a bit of surpervision. after every one has eaten the tables are cleared and kitcken staff help us with that perhaps you should suggest that it works for us.

well said loraine i have had this urgument for years and have gotten nowher with it , because for all the fat cats its all about TENDER LOVE AND GREED and we the carers are the back bone of the company. they couldnt care less bout the resident they just care bout there pockets.