National Care Home Day 2015

[Cleoriff]

June 19th 2015 is the day when all care homes are encouraged to open their doors to allow the general public to have a look round and see for themselves the level of care provided.

We will all be aware of the complaints of client abuse that have been discovered recently. Thankfully the 'carers' found guilty of this sort of criminal abuse and negligence have been given prison sentences.

Eight months ago the body in charge of regulating care homes ,the Care Quality Commission (CQC) promised a "new approach" to inspections, following several high profile cases of abuse.

Since then 30 care homes have been rated as inadequate, and have closed .

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-33195604

As someone from a nursing background, I find it interesting to see that Care Homes are 'invited' to take part in this event. Personally... I would be very wary of those who chose not to participate...(but that's just me)

http://www.cqc.org.uk/content/care-home-open-day-2015

[Anonymous]

Interesting idea. I know the Police have volunteer 'Custody Visitors' who can turn up unannounced, and have to be granted access to those in custody unless a critical situation in the cell block is ongoing. They make sure the 'prisoners' are being afforded their rights, and being fed etc.

As you say, any homes refusing to take part would be ringing alarm bells for me, as long as they don't disrupt the day-to-day running of the home.

[viridis]

Should look on those that don't with very cautious eyes..

[Cleoriff]

Thing is...if schools are underperforming, we send in Ofsted....we don't ask ...we inform and enforce.

In fairness those care homes that have bad reports, are put under special measures by the CQC. Often a case of going in after the damage has been done to one of our elderly relatives which is no good whatsoever.

More spot checks need to be done.

When I left the NHS and did agency nursing in a lot of Care Homes in the Midlands area, I had my eyes opened big time. Places that were new build with wonderful facilities often did not match that with the standard of care given..

[MI5]

How can we ensure that any home we send our relatives to has the best reputation? Seems there is far too much abuse going on ??!!

[Cleoriff]

---

@MI5 wrote:
How can we ensure that any home we send our relatives to has the best reputation? Seems there is far too much abuse going on ??!!

---

Oh god...How long is a piece of string @MI5 ? I can say in all honesty it's a lottery. Personally I would NOT believe the glossy brochures. All that proves is the care home owners have a fair bit of money to flash around producing a good brochure with impact and aimed at getting you interested.

Here's a pretty good test. Ring and ask to come round and have a look for yourself...Better still just turn up and say you are considering this home for a relative. If the residents look clean and well cared for with an interesting activity rota....that's a good starter. Ask for the ratio of staff per shift...look and see how many residents are sitting alone staring into space...

Best test yet...talk to junior staff members such as care assistants about the routine for the day..

As I say it's a lottery..........

[MI5]

Scary 😞

[Cleoriff]

---

@MI5 wrote:
Scary 😞

---

Better still...take me with you. I will tell you if its a good home or not.

Remember that old saying 'Not all that glitters is gold'. Same for care homes.

In my experience, (talking about Warwickshire and Coventry) the older homes tend to give a vastly superior standard of care.

When the care home industry became big business....that's when things went a bit pear shaped. A lot of private care homes were built. Money was spent on the buildings, furniture and fittings . All very lovely.....The two things that suffered were

1) Staffing levels (cut down to 'just cope' level)

2) Food (buy the cheapest)

I could go on.....as you see I am passionate about this issue.....but will shush for a while  .

[jonsie]

My father and my mum in law both died in residential care homes. My dear wife never forgave herself after we saw the way she was treated just days before her mother's death. Heartbreaking and we did so much research and viewing before deciding which one would be best.

Both have now closed but the bitter memories remain. We are talking 10 years ago and hopefully things have now changed for the better but open days are all a far cry from the normal day to day operation. One thing is for sure, I'll never have that problem or heartache again.

[Cleoriff]

And yet you see we had such a better experience with my mum. She was in a council care home (much better regulated than private homes) She was nursed by women who had been there for years. Although not trained nurses they had two GP's linked to the home. Slightest sign of any health change the GP was informed immediately...

Also Mum was a smoker and needed to be somewhere that allowed this (in a special designated area) As far as I can tell (my sister and I visited on alternate days) Mum had the best care I have ever seen...

We had no regrets about the one we chose. My sister initially wanted to pay for her care at a very posh nursing home close to her, in the 'best area of Coventry'. . I know her care wouldn't have been bettered there..