We need a me too movement in Care

[Exning]

I get so frustrated with the way the same concerns about care regarding dementia are repeated. This is a problem not just for those who have to deal with it dirrectly now but a problem that is going to face a very high proportion of everyone during their lifetimes.
Just focusing on one curent issue....there are many I know but this is topical.
We are currently in a media storm over Nurse's pay....what about the pay of care staff who are invariably paid a pittance and have none of the protections of sick pay, strong Trade unions or properly focused public support.
We laud and praise how brilliant they are but where is the lobying of politicians or the media to get them a pay rise or a one off bonus payment? The failure to pay them properly has probably also caused major problems with the spread of Covid in homes. Low paid without a safety net of sick pay, is it not suprising that some will continue to work when not 100%.
how many of you have contacted your MP or Care home about the need for proper sick pay for care home staff?
Care homes are a big business. With obvious exceptions they are run, as a business to make money. Care is a growth industry where some of the big players are making a lot of money precisely because they can get away with cheap labour and poor working practices. When the care groups complain about loosing money it is nearly always because they have heavily geared the businesses with debt to give them that opportunity.
The next time one of the major groups talks about oging into liquidation perhaps it is time for their bluff to be called. Let it fail, Buy the assets (not the debt) for what they are worth and continue the business in public ownership.
We don't like to criticise care homes because of the care they provide. But we should criticise the industry which has failed to protect their staff and allowed unacceptable prcatices to continue. Care homes have been given millions to help with infection control. Perhaps they should have used some of that to provide sick pay for their staff.

 

[Lynmax]

My mum is in a care home run as a not for profit company. All the carers are now paid the living wage rather than minimum wage and do get sick pay etc. No agency staff are used as they have their own “bank carers” who work in any of the eleven care homes. This is one reason why we chose the home for mum.

It does mean though that the fees are as high a those in care homes that are run as profit making businesses - going up to £1045 per week for next year.

 

[Shedrech]

personally, I'm not comfortable with the 'me too' part of your title

maybe contact the AS and make your suggestion, they are working on many aspects of care

Campaign with us

Join our campaigns and help us challenge and change the issues faced by people affected by dementia.

www.alzheimers.org.uk

 

[Palerider]

I get so frustrated with the way the same concerns about care regarding dementia are repeated. This is a problem not just for those who have to deal with it dirrectly now but a problem that is going to face a very high proportion of everyone during their lifetimes.
Just focusing on one curent issue....there are many I know but this is topical.
We are currently in a media storm over Nurse's pay....what about the pay of care staff who are invariably paid a pittance and have none of the protections of sick pay, strong Trade unions or properly focused public support.
We laud and praise how brilliant they are but where is the lobying of politicians or the media to get them a pay rise or a one off bonus payment? The failure to pay them properly has probably also caused major problems with the spread of Covid in homes. Low paid without a safety net of sick pay, is it not suprising that some will continue to work when not 100%.
how many of you have contacted your MP or Care home about the need for proper sick pay for care home staff?
Care homes are a big business. With obvious exceptions they are run, as a business to make money. Care is a growth industry where some of the big players are making a lot of money precisely because they can get away with cheap labour and poor working practices. When the care groups complain about loosing money it is nearly always because they have heavily geared the businesses with debt to give them that opportunity.
The next time one of the major groups talks about oging into liquidation perhaps it is time for their bluff to be called. Let it fail, Buy the assets (not the debt) for what they are worth and continue the business in public ownership.
We don't like to criticise care homes because of the care they provide. But we should criticise the industry which has failed to protect their staff and allowed unacceptable prcatices to continue. Care homes have been given millions to help with infection control. Perhaps they should have used some of that to provide sick pay for their staff.

I would just like to comment that many nurses are not involved in the media storm over pay -that is the media and various organisations jumping on the poltical band wagon -just to be clear.

As for pay and social care, that is a matter that has long been unaddressed and as been discussed in depth via the House of Lords Report and later discussion in January of this year. With more pay comes the expectation of better care and that means training and development of care staff. Some people genuinely work in the care sector because its a vocation they want to do and are good at it, but the sector also attracts those who just want the pay packet at the end of the month, without adding anything of value to the care they give. I have seen excellent care staff and also pretty poor ones in my journey with mum. If we are going to address social care and standards of pay, then we also need to expect better standards of care practice.

Historically the state of social care provision in the UK has long been an issue with successive goverments uncertain in how to tackle it, not forgetting some of the reasons why it was changed was not just about money, but also to move away from the dark days when it was previously nationalised -as even then standards of care were problematic.

Its true large care providers have posed problems in the sector, but don't forget the smaller care home companies that have delivered a good service with a very different agenda to some of the larger care providers.

The issues you have raised have been discussed and reviewed and reported on many times over with little in the way of effective change to date.

@Shedrech has given a good link as the AS campaigns guys are on these issues and have campaigned tirelessly for real change to dementia care in raising what matters to people with dementia and their carers.

Yes fair pay, but attitudes also need to change

 

[Duggies-girl]

Nothing to do with pay or who deserves more than others but in my experience of having dad in hospital there needs to be some kind of basic training in the NHS in how to deal with people who have dementia because most don't seem to have a clue.

 

[Palerider]

Nothing to do with pay or who deserves more than others but in my experience of having dad in hospital there needs to be some kind of basic training in the NHS in how to deal with people who have dementia because most don't seem to have a clue.

I agree.....but to be fair the NHS has become so focussed on managing the front door everything else has been lost in ED targets rather than care. Hospitals now are production lines and the target is ED and admissions. The last night I spent with mum in ED the nurses just weren't interested in individual care, more about how to get everyone out...speaks for itself! However, I recall this thread was about social care, a step most of us now realise is tarnished with power, imprisonment and isolation as well as care standards and arguments over pay with no standardised professional career in social care or accepted standards of care practice

 

[Duggies-girl]

Yes @Palerider I agree with that but memories of having to beg for a commode for dad on two occasions and having to get him on it both times myself without help because nobody else was willing to help him slightly impairs my views of care in the NHS I am sure that if dad had suffered from a physical impairment then he would have been given more help but as it was dementia it was seen as okay to just let him soil himself because it was easier for the staff to deal with.

It was a dreadful experience.

 

[Palerider]

Yes @Palerider I agree with that but memories of having to beg for a commode for dad on two occasions and having to get him on it both times myself without help because nobody else was willing to help him slightly impairs my views of care in the NHS I am sure that if dad had suffered from a physical impairment then he would have been given more help but as it was dementia it was seen as okay to just let him soil himself because it was easier for the staff to deal with.

It was a dreadful experience.

Yes I agree and have been there with my mum and also complained and been made to be the bad guy in all of it. But this thread is about the social care aspect and the point made by the original author which I am not agreeing to.