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care homes

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wallace

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You may remember me whining on about my daughter starting care work, anyway she left that employer because they were only giving her the scraps of work. (zero hour) contract. She started with a local care home and has been doing a good job by all accounts. One disturbing trend she has noticed is people being transferred from hospitals coming up to a weekend for them to pass away within a couple of days. One such case was a woman who came in in a very agitated state, saying she is going to die and doesnt want to be there. She became very unwell so an ambulance was called. She then stopped breathing so my daughter had to perform cpr. It was not even known if a DNAR was in place as her paperwork had not been processed. After taking turns for 45min the woman sadly died. No ambulance came apparently care homes are lower down the list of call priority. She was quite shook up by events and was allowed to go home early.
 
This is the unfortunate side of working with people in their later years.
Hospitals are desperate to discharge patients, so a Care home placement is a good result for them. Continued care and an empty bed.

Bod1
 
I'm not sure how long she will last. I reckon she will become a whistlblower or get ill. 12hr shifts with one break looking after 30 male dementia patients with only two other staff. And this is a mid level 'care village'. The stories and expectations are grim and all for less than a tesco shelf stacker. I think it a sad reflection on how a society treats its old.
 
Care home staff should be paid better for sure.
All care homes should be very tightly monitored.
The profit some of the major players are making is truly obscene.
 
wallace said:
I'm not sure how long she will last. I reckon she will become a whistlblower or get ill. 12hr shifts with one break looking after 30 male dementia patients with only two other staff. And this is a mid level 'care village'. The stories and expectations are grim and all for less than a tesco shelf stacker. I think it a sad reflection on how a society treats its old.
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These homes are profit oriented only, provide as little as possible care to meet the minimum required standards.
 
Private equity companies make a similar killing out of children’s homes. The average cost of a place is about £6k per week but for children with the most complex needs (mental health issues, behavioural difficulties, vulnerability) the cost per week runs into tens of thousands. The sector is pretty well regulated by Ofsted (I used to inspect children’s homes and residential special schools) but there has been a massive increase in unregistered and therefore unregulated homes which many local authorities have little choice but to use for the hardest to place young people.
 
I agree completely about wages, conditions and pressure put on care staff. Without getting political as it's all parties, old, seriously ill and dementia care home residents are highly unlikely to vote and therefore well down the list of any priorities, just look at waht happened during Covid.

There are some decent care homes around though if you're lucky. When we found one for my mother in law it was excellent even though part of a group and was like a hotel. £1500 a week for what was basically a room and board as she didn't need nursing care, she was there for 5 years before she died suddenly a couple of years ago
The staff were very good indeed, kept in close contact with us and some of them had become quite attached to her even though she could be pretty difficult at times. They were genuinely visibly upset by her demise. Whatever came into her mind also exited her mouth so often rude, racist and embarassing, bless her cotton socks. :ROFLMAO:
 
I was shocked to find out the cost of my Sister’s care home, she has Alzheimer’s, (it’s never good) the home is excellent with lots of activities and amenities but it’s in a rural setting so costs are lower. £65k PA!
 
Me and LOML have a pact that neither of us is going into a care home. I accept it is easy to decide that when there is no family to consider.

When her mother needed to go into a care home, LOML had a lot of difficulty arranging it with many barriers put in her way. So she found out the details of the office wherein the ‘block’ resided. With perfect timing she rang said ‘block’ and asked to meet. She was told that “I’m too busy to drive over and see you”.

“That’s OK” said my wife. “ I’m outside your office door”

Game, set and match
 
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RogerS said:
Me and LOML have a pact that neither of us is going into a care home. I accept it is easy to decide that when there is no family to consider.
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How does that work. One of you is going to die first. If the other can't cope with independent living, what then ?

I know, as an able and independent adult, the prospect of a care home looks dreadful. But my father was left living alone, convinced that is what he wanted, spent years struggling on to stay living independently at home, surrounded by the memories of a wife he had lost. Finally it became untenable and he went into a care home, and has been visibly much happier as well as safer (for himself and those around him) there.
 
Sheffield Tony said:
How does that work. One of you is going to die first. If the other can't cope with independent living, what then ?

I know, as an able and independent adult, the prospect of a care home looks dreadful. But my father was left living alone, convinced that is what he wanted, spent years struggling on to stay living independently at home, surrounded by the memories of a wife he had lost. Finally it became untenable and he went into a care home, and has been visibly much happier as well as safer (for himself and those around him) there.
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All sorted
 
Cabinetman said:
Yes that’s correct, be a hell of a party first though!
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Just to put it into context, Krenov did exactly the same thing in 2008 when he was 88. He was going blind etc, couldn't do what he wanted to do so one night he took a fistful of sleeping pills and went into a self-induced coma from which he never woke up. He died a week later - Rob
 
Woodbloke said:
Just to put it into context, Krenov did exactly the same thing in 2008 when he was 88. He was going blind etc, couldn't do what he wanted to do so one night he took a fistful of sleeping pills and went into a self-induced coma from which he never woke up. He died a week later - Rob
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Yep, that sort of thing, interesting, I didn’t know about him going.
 
marineboy said:
So are we talking self-euthanasia? That’s a pretty big decision and one which takes some courage I’d think.
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A local man helped his terminally ill friend to do it, and then to himself several years later, when life became too much. It was quite a controversial story at the time, as he was arrested for aiding the suicide of his friend but was ultimately let off.

From what I remember, I think it was a plastic bag over the head filled with helium gas.
 
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