It has absolutely broke my heart! The poor poor lady suffering so badly and unable to even explain how she was being treated.
The warning signs were there, mum with bruises, staff brought in from other countries specifically for the job, a daughter worried and concerned for her mother's welfare, and yet the police at the end said they would not advise relatives to take secret filming????? I have no doubt whatsoever that the poor lady would still be residing in that home and suffering the same abuse if she hadn't got such undeniable evidence from the secret filming!!!
How do you change such an underlying mind set of disinterest in the job and abuse of our elderly when the central management of the company in question were fully prepared to let four of the staff involved continue to work there??? How could management write a letter to the daughter stating that abuse had not taken place. What more proof would they need I wonder in order to change what was happening?
Too many complaints are swept under the carpet, never reach the ears of social workers, the CQC etc., and when such complaints are heard, there is too much 'protect our backs' - 'the care home are pwerful and have lawyers' 'we haven't enough proof' etc., etc., culture amongst Local Authorities, social workers, the CQC. Why did the doctors, district nurses, visiting hairdresser, and the thousand and one other visitors at that care home not see or even sense the underlying neglect and bad care?
I myself have visited a home where I was told by relatives on the general frail and elderly section, 'My mother is happy here and I'm happy because I know she is safe'. yet when I visited the dementia unit I saw for myself that residents were very far from safe and well cared for. If relatives continue to only see to their own resident's wellbeing and don't notice, or ignore, what is going on around them, are they contributing to the culture we have seen on tv tonight? If they did complain would they be labelled as troublemakers and told that they could only complain about any care of their own relative and not of others?
I submitted a report to the LA (the main contractor for paying for beds at the home I visited), I also sent a copy of the same report to the CQC. Only after a complaint about the dementia unit by a relative some time later did the CQC decide to inspect. The time from my report being received up to the CQC inspection was a further six months. Six months when the poor care I witnessed continued!!
I'm honestly feeling sick at the sight of such abuse. It is even more shocking to think that this must be going on somewhere to some other elderly person, right now this minute, as I'm typing this.
Thank God that I'm absolutely sure that my husband is being cared for by kind, gentle and well meaning carers. How do I know this? Well I've been visiting on an almost daily basis, at all hours of the day (and night) for four years and I've watched not only the care of my own relative but also the care of all the other residents. I know that staff genuinely care for all of the residents as if they were their own flesh and blood.
xxTinaT