Dear Mr Byers,
I have just finished reading your article in the Chronicle Extra March 26th 2008 in which you state "for society to work we have to respect one another and take responsibility for the things we do and recognise that we have obligations to other people".
Perhaps you will be able to tell me who exactly is responsible for our elderly people in private care homes. Is it the elderly persons family? the carers in the home? the social workers? the care home manager? or the management team of the care home company?or even the member of parliament?
I ask because my mother was recently in January 2008 moved into a new nursing home because she is suffering from Vascular Dementia, I wont go into all of her medical details as it would take too long. The home she is in is run by (name removed by moderator).
On Sunday 10th February the family decided to bring her out for the day for her tea to her home. My sister who went to pick her up found her slumped in an armchair wet down one side( she had vomited mucous). The carers took my mother away to be changed and brought her back handing her over to my sister and her husband. They managed with difficulty to get her into their car and out of the car at home. I noticed immediately that she was in fact unconscious. The carer in the home when we phoned said "bring her back we will get a doctor out tomorrow". We knew it was impossible and so phoned 999. The para medic who attended was astonished that she had been allowed out of the care home in that condition. She was diagnosed in NT General as having Streptococcal Pneumonia she was on pure oxygen and antibiotics. We were told it was life threatening and she might not survive the next 24hr. So if we had done what the carer suggested she would probably be dead now.
Since moving my mother to this care home the family have been very concerned about the state of the home and the care she is receiving.
Last weekend my sister visited my mother to discover her once again slumped in the chair complaining of pain in her side and arm, her eye was also infected with yellow pus. Obviously because of past events we were very concerned about our mothers health and so my brother phoned that night asking for a visit by the doctor. The doctor refused to visit and said my mother would be monitored by the care staff. We were not happy about this.
Do you ever make unannounced visits to care homes? Maybe you should. My mothers' home stinks and we were told the air conditioning is broken. The armchairs the residents sit in are disgusting and until recently some were protected by black bin liners, cleaning seems to be at a minimum.Last night when I visited, the nurse said she only had 2 carers helping her when she should have 5. My mother sits in the same position all day and so has a bedsore on her backside which makes her cry out in pain.
I know the carers do the best they can for very little money, it is obviously a very demanding job. Surely the Management team of (name removed by moderator) are responsible for providing clean accommodation in pleasant surrounding with well qualified and sufficient staff for their residents who are paying a huge amount of money to be cared for.
I suspect the Directors,Chief Executive,Chairman, Financial Officers are making huge profits from the plight of our elderly people in their dying days and so I refer once again to your article about responsibility "They are being selfish. Putting themselves before anything else." and it is our elderly people who are being treat inhumanly as profit making fodder.
Our whole family are grief stricken and heartbroken because our mother needs to be looked after in a nursing home and it makes it all the more difficult to bear when we see how she must live out her final days in such a place as (name removed by moderator). We were only given the choice of 3 homes and this one seemed better than the others. Unfortunately we discovered otherwise.
I do not think our society shows any respect for our elderly people when local authorities and the NHS cannot provide excellent care for them and hands them over to uncaring profit making organisations such as (name removed by moderator).
I thank you for taking your time to read this and look forward to your reply in the near future.
Yours sincerely
I have just finished reading your article in the Chronicle Extra March 26th 2008 in which you state "for society to work we have to respect one another and take responsibility for the things we do and recognise that we have obligations to other people".
Perhaps you will be able to tell me who exactly is responsible for our elderly people in private care homes. Is it the elderly persons family? the carers in the home? the social workers? the care home manager? or the management team of the care home company?or even the member of parliament?
I ask because my mother was recently in January 2008 moved into a new nursing home because she is suffering from Vascular Dementia, I wont go into all of her medical details as it would take too long. The home she is in is run by (name removed by moderator).
On Sunday 10th February the family decided to bring her out for the day for her tea to her home. My sister who went to pick her up found her slumped in an armchair wet down one side( she had vomited mucous). The carers took my mother away to be changed and brought her back handing her over to my sister and her husband. They managed with difficulty to get her into their car and out of the car at home. I noticed immediately that she was in fact unconscious. The carer in the home when we phoned said "bring her back we will get a doctor out tomorrow". We knew it was impossible and so phoned 999. The para medic who attended was astonished that she had been allowed out of the care home in that condition. She was diagnosed in NT General as having Streptococcal Pneumonia she was on pure oxygen and antibiotics. We were told it was life threatening and she might not survive the next 24hr. So if we had done what the carer suggested she would probably be dead now.
Since moving my mother to this care home the family have been very concerned about the state of the home and the care she is receiving.
Last weekend my sister visited my mother to discover her once again slumped in the chair complaining of pain in her side and arm, her eye was also infected with yellow pus. Obviously because of past events we were very concerned about our mothers health and so my brother phoned that night asking for a visit by the doctor. The doctor refused to visit and said my mother would be monitored by the care staff. We were not happy about this.
Do you ever make unannounced visits to care homes? Maybe you should. My mothers' home stinks and we were told the air conditioning is broken. The armchairs the residents sit in are disgusting and until recently some were protected by black bin liners, cleaning seems to be at a minimum.Last night when I visited, the nurse said she only had 2 carers helping her when she should have 5. My mother sits in the same position all day and so has a bedsore on her backside which makes her cry out in pain.
I know the carers do the best they can for very little money, it is obviously a very demanding job. Surely the Management team of (name removed by moderator) are responsible for providing clean accommodation in pleasant surrounding with well qualified and sufficient staff for their residents who are paying a huge amount of money to be cared for.
I suspect the Directors,Chief Executive,Chairman, Financial Officers are making huge profits from the plight of our elderly people in their dying days and so I refer once again to your article about responsibility "They are being selfish. Putting themselves before anything else." and it is our elderly people who are being treat inhumanly as profit making fodder.
Our whole family are grief stricken and heartbroken because our mother needs to be looked after in a nursing home and it makes it all the more difficult to bear when we see how she must live out her final days in such a place as (name removed by moderator). We were only given the choice of 3 homes and this one seemed better than the others. Unfortunately we discovered otherwise.
I do not think our society shows any respect for our elderly people when local authorities and the NHS cannot provide excellent care for them and hands them over to uncaring profit making organisations such as (name removed by moderator).
I thank you for taking your time to read this and look forward to your reply in the near future.
Yours sincerely
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