Care Home vs Home Care Advice needed please

[tonyald]

Thank you all for your good wishes and helpful advice. I believe the meeting with SS is on Friday so will keep you posted. I think the main question is one of capacity. I do not know how they will assess this so i am looking forward to being enlightened. She cannot remember what she said or did 5 minutes ago. Thank you Lexy, she already has a lifeline installed and had the buzzer around her neck last time she lived at home so that is still in place if she does come out. I think the best thing now is to wait until the meeting and then go from there. Will update you all as soon as i can but in the meantime thank you all and have a good week.

 

[Noorza]

Hi Tony, I hope it all goes well on Friday.

The alarms are great but as mum has become more poorly we had a financial assessment done and upgraded that alarm to a Telecare System which will go off if she falls and can't press the button. They can be set to detect smoke too.

Does she have a key box so the emergency services can let themselves in if you are not around?

You may want to access an OT via Social Services Adult Care to do another assessment before mum comes home, it might be that her home now needs further adaptions to help prevent falls. Over 20 years of mum's many and varied illness we have gradually added on everything from commodes, to raised toilet seats, a wetroom (she can't life her legs to bathe), they made two handles (bannisters?) not sure of the right name for them, but she can hold on to them to get from her back door to her garage with both hands. They raised her seating chair and when she started falling out of bed she got a hospital bed to replace her electric one which had become dangerous for her.

The Fire Service will give a full safety check too for free too and put in fire alarms or upgrade current ones if they feel it is necessary.

Please forgive me if you've done this already done all this, I only mention it as Mum's had been added to as her condition deteriorates sadly.

 

[Saffie]

Good luck on Friday Tony.I hope it goes well.

 

[Norfolkgirl]

The CQC still exists it just has a different Chief Executive. I was reading about it earlier on and apparently someone from the CQC suggested putting camera,s in care homes to help stop elderly abuse. The Daily Telegraph is quite a good source of information, report today Sat 1st March

"Record number of Care Homes warned over illegally poor standards" I believe it is one in three .

It's all very well having cameras in the general areas of the care home but what about in the private rooms. If any abuse is going to happen it will be there/then. I doubt CQC will put cameras in the private rooms due to invasion of privacy!

 

[Noorza]

It's all very well having cameras in the general areas of the care home but what about in the private rooms. If any abuse is going to happen it will be there/then. I doubt CQC will put cameras in the private rooms due to invasion of privacy!

I think cameras in themselves could be abused. If a dementia patient is acting in what others may feel is a peculiar manner these images could end up on the internet leading to a loss of dignity.

In one care home that I am aware of one of the ladies takes to undressing, others incontinent, they deserve dignity not recording in my honest opinion.

 

[Norfolkgirl]

I think cameras in themselves could be abused. If a dementia patient is acting in what others may feel is a peculiar manner these images could end up on the internet leading to a loss of dignity.

In one care home that I am aware of one of the ladies takes to undressing, others incontinent, they deserve dignity not recording in my honest opinion.

Hi, I wasn't suggesting cameras be placed in the rooms, I was just pointing out that I doubt CQC would consider doing such a thing in the first place, for the reasons of privacy and also what you have just explained.

 

[Noorza]

Hi, I wasn't suggesting cameras be placed in the rooms, I was just pointing out that I doubt CQC would consider doing such a thing in the first place, for the reasons of privacy and also what you have just explained.

I understood that Norfolkgirl, you explained it well. I was just adding some of my own concerns and drawbacks regarding the placing of cameras anywhere in a care home. I would just feel so uncomfortable with mum or anyone being recorded.

These people had lives before dementia and recording their dementia type behaviours just seems to very wrong to me. The many very good care homes manage to provide excellent care without them. Thank goodness.

 

[Norfolkgirl]

Thank you all for your good wishes and helpful advice. I believe the meeting with SS is on Friday so will keep you posted. I think the main question is one of capacity. I do not know how they will assess this so i am looking forward to being enlightened. She cannot remember what she said or did 5 minutes ago. Thank you Lexy, she already has a lifeline installed and had the buzzer around her neck last time she lived at home so that is still in place if she does come out. I think the best thing now is to wait until the meeting and then go from there. Will update you all as soon as i can but in the meantime thank you all and have a good week.

I'd be very interested in learning how Social Services conduct their mental capacity assessments of your MIL and if you are allowed to be there. If this includes financial management affairs as well as generally, please make a special note how they conduct this and please let us know. The reason I ask is because my mother is being financially abused since a few years ago but Social Services conclude she has mental capacity to make a report to Police herself and they won't safeguard her. When I reported to Police myself they agreed with SS even though Police never assessed her themselves. My mother is totally incapacitated, immobile with dementia and def. does not have mc, and like your MIL, she can't remember things from minutes earlier + doesn't even know what year/month/day it is or other simple things and gives different answers within minutes of being asked exact same questions.

 

[Norfolkgirl]

I understood that Norfolkgirl, you explained it well. I was just adding some of my own concerns and drawbacks regarding the placing of cameras anywhere in a care home. I would just feel so uncomfortable with mum or anyone being recorded.

These people had lives before dementia and recording their dementia type behaviours just seems to very wrong to me. The many very good care homes manage to provide excellent care without them. Thank goodness.

Yes but the only thing is, if abuse is suspected and the care home staff deny it, then it is made more difficult to prove (unless you set up your own hidden camera in the room). Care homes may well be good but things can and do change, different staff, different circumstances, nothing is fool proof unless you can film it yourself.

 

[Noorza]

Yes but the only thing is, if abuse is suspected and the care home staff deny it, then it is made more difficult to prove (unless you set up your own hidden camera in the room). Care homes may well be good but things can and do change, different staff, different circumstances, nothing is fool proof unless you can film it yourself.

It's a good point I think setting up and controlling your own camera is different to having the home do it. If there was abuse and cameras, those abusers could abuse the elderly people by humiliating them with it.

I have put a recorder into mum's home when I suspected abuse, boy did I get an eye opener!!!!! My BIL (annual visits x 3 hours a time) was telling mum that I am bad and wicked repeatedly and kept saying it until Mum broke down saying "she's good, she helps me" then cries. I could write a book. Sorry digressing.

For me it's the thought of the care home having control of the filming that leaves me deeply uncomfortable. I recall one home where abuse was endemic and the workers got jailed, perhaps I am naïve but to find that many abusive people in one home has to be incredibly rare.

One of my neighbours is in a home that runs an open door policy which I like, as you can drop in anytime without appointment, just tells me they have nothing to hide.

 

[lexy]

Hi, I wasn't suggesting cameras be placed in the rooms, I was just pointing out that I doubt CQC would consider doing such a thing in the first place, for the reasons of privacy and also what you have just explained.

Hello Norfolkgirl

The CQC have discussed placing CCTV in care homes, whether they have come to any decision yet I do not know. If you click onto Carehome.co.uk there is some information of their about this also the CQC's own website.

I have mixed feelings about this but on balance if it stopped elder abuse I would feel inclined to support it. It would also protect staff if they were accused of something they had not done. My mum went through a phase of telling the carer's that I was "hitting her with sticks" she then changed her story to the "carer's were hitting her with sticks"!!! I remember thinking to myself at the time I shall have to get cctv in our house to protect myself against these accusations because I could not prove I was not "hitting her with sticks" and I got some funny looks from the carer's.

 

[lexy]

I didn't mean to offend. It is of course up to you whether to give that information or not.

you didn't offend me I just feel a bit worried about putting too much personal stuff on any website, anyway for what its worth I live in the South West

 

[Norfolkgirl]

Hello Norfolkgirl

The CQC have discussed placing CCTV in care homes, whether they have come to any decision yet I do not know. If you click onto Carehome.co.uk there is some information of their about this also the CQC's own website.

I have mixed feelings about this but on balance if it stopped elder abuse I would feel inclined to support it. It would also protect staff if they were accused of something they had not done. My mum went through a phase of telling the carer's that I was "hitting her with sticks" she then changed her story to the "carer's were hitting her with sticks"!!! I remember thinking to myself at the time I shall have to get cctv in our house to protect myself against these accusations because I could not prove I was not "hitting her with sticks" and I got some funny looks from the carer's.

Hi Lexy, the issue isn't really about CCTV in the general areas of care homes (the one my mum is in has CCTV in general areas already) but it's whether CQC are wishing to have them in private rooms. I'll look at the website you refer to.

 

[tonyald]

Hi all, another question to see if anyone out there knows an answer. 2 social services ladies visited my MIL in the home today without the knowledge of any of the family. Are the allowed to do this? Further the 2 that visited did not include her allocated social worker so they were people who were not familiar to my MIL. I am concerned that we were not aware of their visit or the reason for it. We are going to ring them tomorrow to find out why they visited and why we were not informed but if anyone could let me know where we stand on this it would be appreciated.

 

[Norfolkgirl]

Hi all, another question to see if anyone out there knows an answer. 2 social services ladies visited my MIL in the home today without the knowledge of any of the family. Are the allowed to do this? Further the 2 that visited did not include her allocated social worker so they were people who were not familiar to my MIL. I am concerned that we were not aware of their visit or the reason for it. We are going to ring them tomorrow to find out why they visited and why we were not informed but if anyone could let me know where we stand on this it would be appreciated.

Well I know SS visited my mum without my knowledge and I don't believe they should do this, sounds like on the sly and should not be trusted. Strange they should turn up when you had plans to have them visit tomorrow to conduct m.c. test anyway.

How did you find out, did the home tell you or MIL? If it was the home, they should call you straight away in future should SS turn up unannounced.

 

[tonyald]

My wife visited and noticed their name in the visitors book visiting my MIL. She asked a member of staff and said they had come to look at her file and also talked to MIL. MIL could not remember what they asked her.

 

[tonyald]

Anyone know if we would be able to get copies of MIL's care plan for meeting Friday?

 

[LYN T]

Anyone know if we would be able to get copies of MIL's care plan for meeting Friday?

Yes. Get them today.

By the way any visits from SW/SS etc I insist on being told about. I have been so far.
I'm not always there for GP visits but I'm always told about them in advance-and the outcome afterwards

Take care

Lyn T