Forum Topic

Panorama last night on Care Homes

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0844wq3/panorama-nursing-homes-undercoverI watched it this morning.  Something everybody should watch as so many people don't ever get the chance to visit a care home or nursing home to have any idea at all what everybody else is talking about - so feel unable to comment.If we all visited them more often there would be a reduced possibility of any of them deteriorating in the way that some do to the detriment of the residents.

Philippa Bond ● 3182d6 Comments

Our parent loved showers and would shower every day.  When he became less able he showered when we were there until it became too difficult.  We were told he could have a shower in the care home - we had asked about it and there was one in his room - and used this as a selling point to him when we needed respite.  However after two weeks he still hadn't been offered a shower or bath despite us reminding them and being told that he could have one.  I now find that this is often the case...  and still feel bad about it.  Basically there just aren't enough staff.

Philippa Bond ● 3175d

There can be a big turnover of staff (churn).  This puts even more pressure on the remaining staff as it makes it harder to work as part of a team.  Councils tend to pay less to the care homes than private residents which raises the price for private residents.  There has been an increase in care companies withdrawing from council contracts as they find it impossible to carry out the care required for the price.  We found that the rotas had several people listed at the same time so it was impossible for the carer to stay for the requisite amount of time with each service user - especially since the carer has to travel between homes (and the care company was not paying travel time which by law they should be). When you can't be sure that a carer will turn up to give your parent their supper then you then may start looking at care homes but they have a lot of the same problems of being under-resourced and underfunded.There are some brilliant carers out there and they need much better support.

Philippa Bond ● 3179d

One of the most horrible parts of the other experiences we observed was how lonely and isolated the care homes made people.I joined one of the patient participative groups because I though I could contribute a lot from our experiences but after numerous meetings and asking for the agenda in advance for the next group meeting, I decided that we probably only existed so that somebody could tick a box to say we were having meeting.  I wrote to say I didn't think I could contribute anything, because of this concern/suspicion and what I thought I could contribute, a long list, and they ignored me!

Sarah Felstead ● 3180d

Crumbs!  Yes indeed the second care home we had experience of was a charity run one and was a purpose built huge bungalow with no lifts or stair lofts.  It had lots of lounges for people to move around and was excellenct in the care of the elderly people there.  Towards the end there were staff changes which meant less people around, the CQC established this as a fault but shortly after that it was closed as the land was worth a fortune so they expanded in a cheaper area.  So that is two to sing the praises of.

Sarah Felstead ● 3180d

Didn't see the programme but my dad was in a care home in Kent and they certainly cared for him. It was an ordinary home run by a charity but the staff could not have been better. They always had time for him. When he was dying we spent 4 nights there and so saw them in true light not just on show. I will name them as they deserve to be recognised. Woodside Care Home, Whitfield Hill, Dover.

Margaret Wittich ● 3182d

There is something very wrong with care homes and the way we view care homes.  We have had first hand experience of several care homes in the past few years and apart from one, which was regarded by the Social services people as gold star and therefore that was a bad thing, they have all been quite awful in different ways.Ps.  We didn't view the gold star home as anything other than FANTASTIC, and the person went there to live, not to die.

Sarah Felstead ● 3182d