Has anyone been watching the news about new rules to be brought in concerning carehomes?

They're saying that if nurses and students don't show respect and a good bedside manner in hospitals and homes they should be banned from working in that area. And Ward Sisters are to be given instant decsion should problems arise.

A woman said when her mum was in a home and wanting some attention she was ignored, yet all the staff were sat chatting around the nurses station.

We had a terrible nurse who worked in a local carehome several years ago. She was ill treating patients and it went on a while before it came to light. One thing she was said to have done was make a lady brush her teeth with a toothbrush that had been in a bath with 'mess' in :(

It's a sad fact that unsavoury people go for jobs that give easy access to be cruel.

In general it's worrying what will happen to us if we're no longer able to care for ourselves properly one day. With homes shutting down and more supposedly being done for people to have care in their own home it's another concern.

Some people might prefer to be in a home with other people for company than live alone and see nobody but a carer for 30 to 45 mins three times a day.

As I think now I would rather be in a home than live alone.

Care isn't always what it should be. Even when people are cared for in their own homes from someone outside it must be a very lonely existance.

I hope this isn't just another thing to be forgotten by the governments,and that they do make sure old people are cared for properly. It must be scary enough being ill and old without someone making your life hell or being left alone day after day.

I've heard it said that this problem started when they stopped training nurses in the old practical hospital based way and changed it towards university based nursing degrees. That way we got career nurses who are interested in pay structures and don't think they should have to get their hands dirty rather than those with a real vocation.

Having said that, years ago when I was an auxiliary nurse there was some really bad nursing practice when the staff nurses and the matron weren't around.

I think the idea of only employing people with real compassion is a good idea. That might well mean being less concerned about the academic qualifications for entry into the profession. I personally think that would work out fine as it used to when there were both SEN's and SRN's.

Many elderly people in the UK are totally ignored and neglected by their own families, who can’t wait to get ‘Power of Attorney.
On the Continent Grandparents are welcome to spent their last year with the family and are a valuable contribution to the household helping with the cooking and entertaining the grandchildren. They are much loved and respected.

They only go to a home if incapacitated and then under protest.

azure

It's difficult to find a care home in this country now, Azure. I think they will only take people who are unable to care for themselves anyway. My argument is that they are shutting down fast and saying people who would normally live in them can live alone whilst being looked after in the flat, housing, they have provided. What they don't say is how little that looking after consists of. There are people living alone, without family or friends who see nobody but the carer three times a day for short periods.
And there are people living alone who don't ask for help and they struggle to live.


Sadly when people are very ill it isn't always easy in this day and age for family to look after them 24/7.

Life is so different now. And not always for the better :(

It's really frightening isn't it...what are we coming to when there is such cruelty all around us...what can we do...?...I saw cruelty when I was nursing in a rest home I once worked in...I reported it...but my life was made hell... till I left in tears one lunch time...but it stopped the cruel person from doing it again (she never worked in that field again)...and that was what I cared about more than being forced to leave my job...

Compassion is a must in nursing...without it we are lost, and left wide open to cruel people...

I to dread being left to the fate of cruel hands and no compassion...treat everyone as you yourself would like to be treated,is what my motto use to be,and still is for that matter...

I agree with Ribs Post... :(

It is frightening what could happen to any one of us one day.

I think being old is a scary time for many people anyway, especially when they're unwell.

I have seen and heard all too often of someone doing wrong, being found out and bosses told, only for the one who had the guts to report it being the one to be punished. You're right, Caro. What is this world!

Wasn't a case like that on tv some years ago. A nurse reported ill treament to senior staff and was ignored. So she took video footage to prove it and was sacked or suspended - even though she was telling the truth nono