Ed Balls Crisis in Care.

Can I just say please talk to your closest relative about this when you can. My mother who was 94 spent three months in hospital being treated for various things which developed after she had a fall. One of the things we manged to discuss with her was a Do Not Resuscitate agreement. She didn't want to be treated like that. She was due for discharge and after I rejected all the care homes which provided nursing care (she would have hated them) we were arranging care in her home when she suddenly developed pneumonia and died. I asked afterwards what they would have done if she hadn't signed the DNR and it would have been the full treatment including life support machines if necessary. Her death was upsetting but it was the best thing for her.
The nursing care in the hospital was amazing but the care homes I looked at were awful. I cried regularly after viewing them.

I heard him on the radio follow up phone in the next day. Made a lot of good points. We have too many needing care. Society can only support a certain proportion of people to a good standard. We must chip away at the numbers needing care. By reducing disability at birth, preserving health during 'the prime', and helping the active 'post-work' stage be as long as possible and the very frail to dying stage as short as possible. Would be better for us all.

Winter white. You say that the programme was for the people who don't know about the care crisis, or disregard it. I agree, but people like that wouldn't dream of watching a programme about the care crisis....and so it goes on.

Wasn't the Elvis impersonator the head of the care home? It was that or nothing, don't think the residents noticed, looked like a good afternoon.

Excellent programme and presenter. Ed Balls conveyed the problems of the system well and was tactful and discreet in his dealings with the elderly and their day-to-day care. It's well known that carers are poorly paid and not recognised as skilled workers. Ed Balls drew attention to something I hadn't thought of before - there is no career structure for carers. One of the carers featured in the programme was a young man of 19. He was good at his job but was only there temporarily before going to train as a paramedic. From there he would be able to build a career and a pension, something he can't currently do if he stays in the care sector.

I'm so angry about the way the care system is always pushed to the back of the queue. It needs to be integrated with the NHS. It is random whether you end up with cancer or dementia but your care path through these diseases is very different. Successive governments have said they will fix it but nothing happens. The latest fudging of the issue will see money raised from increased National Insurance going mainly to the NHS. The money designated to the care sector will be too little, too late. And significantly the issue of actual reform in the care sector has been ignored yet again.

Meanwhile millions of pounds are wasted in the NHS on beds being blocked because of the large numbers who have nowhere to go for care when well enough to leave hospital. The fact that so many elderly and frail are abandoned in this way is a disgrace. It is heart-breaking for them and their families. It shames us as a nation and we need to be better than this.

I will be watching Part 2 of Ed Balls programme.

I had my annual check-up (a year overdue) with our Practice Nurse yesterday. She was a bit concerned because my average blood pressure reading were a bit high, and wanted me to start on medication for it. Apparently I have a 30% chance of having a heart attack if I don't.
I told her that, at 82, I would prefer to drop dead with a heart attack, rather than end up in a 'care' home with dementia.
She laughed, but admitted that she, too, would prefer that option. We compromised on me having a recheck in 2 months.

fluttERBY123

Wasn't the Elvis impersonator the head of the care home? It was that or nothing, don't think the residents noticed, looked like a good afternoon.

I think he was the Clinical Lead, fluttERBY123, doing his best and going above and beyond as no outside entertainment was allowed into care homes for a long time due to Covid restrictions.
Dementia patients can often remember old music and lyrics even if they have forgotten a lot else.

trisher DNR is quite controversial as some patients have agreed to this when they were at that time very ill but did have a chance of a good recovery. It was not the right thing for them and next of kin had not been consulted either to give an over-view of what the patient was like before their current illness.

Such a shame Ed Balls didn’t do something about this when he was in government( his Mum was probably OK then and not needing care). I’ve always called it the “ couldn’t care-less” system. A friend who worked in a “care” home a few years ago was horrified when she found out the manager was paid a bonus on the money she saved on spending on the residents - especially the self-funders (which is where the profits are made as Councils pay the barest minimum)
As an aside - I was telling him indoors about a new clinic in Switzerland and that it would be easy to get to, a simple flight from our local airport, the flight (then) costing about £50. His response was to ask if that was the cost of a return flight…Needless to say we have always been on different wavelengths. My idea has always been to set up the “Thelma and Louise Holidays” - a raucous road trip abroad ending in Switzerland. Been a member of Dignity in Dying for years and get regular emails from Exit International. And on that happy note…

I think he was the Clinical Lead, fluttERBY123, doing his best and going above and beyond as no outside entertainment was allowed into care homes for a long time due to Covid restrictions. - this really pulls my chain.

I have worked with people with dementia and feel so strongly that we owe them the best quality of everything - and that includes music and entertainment.

What he was doing was pure crap - a good Elvis impersonator would have been fine, but not his pathetic efforts. Better to play the real thing or a video of Elvis. It was utterly grim and the residents deserve better. It is an insult to them.

Would we want to be subjected to this rubbish? .... absolutely not. Why - because they are weak and helpless and a captive audience - should we inflict such nonsense on them?

OK - off my hobby horse now!

As most Gransnetters know I am 98. In spite of mobility problem because of painful arthritic knees I manage with a lovely lady who comes in for an hour or so Daily to clean and wash up etc. It is only the past few days that she has had also to stand by whilst I shower just in case I should fall
Four years ago I had anal cancer cured by radiotheraphy which caused damage to the base of my spine and I was hospitalised. One evening when I was having my dinner I was suddenly taken to a care home. It was a dingy room with just an unmade bed with a grubby screwed up bottom sheet which didn’t cover the plastic mattress and an uncomfortable shabby easy chair. No TV. Fortunately i had my I pad and was able to message my help 26 miles away.
Although there was a bathroom I could not reach it because of the intense pain in my spine making walking difficult.
I should have had physiotherapy but had none.
At one time I was in intense pain so rang the bell for help. I could hear other bells ringing. Over half an hour later a helpcame and asked in gruff voice What do you want. She told me that I would have to wait two hours until the trolley came round.
On two occasions I was not helped to shower and was in my nightdress all day.
This room was on the top floor which was for NHS patients. The paying patients were having barbecues and amusements. It was worse than two weeks in prison.

Although I reported this nothing has been changed.
I spoke to my GP and she said she had also heard other complaints about the place.
I hope I will die in my sleep otherwise will take an overdose.

I don't agree that the old council homes were better. My grandfather was in one and it was grim, I mean the staff seemed OK but it was very institutional with polished lino floors, no such thing as an en suite, no personal furniture in rooms, well they were shared anyway.

I have an elderly relative in one now, beautiful carpeted room, nice bed that doesn't look like a metal hospital bed, beautiful en suite, her own things round her e.g. TV, radio, chair, curtains and bedding.

I don't get the no career progression, you get senior carers and deputy managers and managers. They were presumably carers at first.

Some people will enjoy that kind of entertainment though, either because they always have, or because their mindset has changed and it is as much as they can cope with.

I think we need to be very careful about putting our values onto others, particularly when they are unable to convey their own views succinctly.

It's also important to know that a wonderfully decorated place is not an indication of good care, necessarily.
Some of the most terrible places I worked in were tastefully decorated.

I worked in admin in a group of care homes, the entertainment is different if you know the people, for us at home it is some strange man not doing something very well, for people who know him it will be funny. At the homes where I worked karaoke was a favourite activity, residents were divided into the ones who liked to perform and the ones who loved to laugh at the staff.

Obviously people weren't forced to attend, if you wanted to watch TV in your room that was fine too.

MissAdventure

It's also important to know that a wonderfully decorated place is not an indication of good care, necessarily.
Some of the most terrible places I worked in were tastefully decorated.

Yes atmosphere rather than decoration.

For me, it is more dignified for a home to have the proper equipment and furnishings in order for maintaining dignity.
Hoists don't work well on plush carpets, and en suites can get crowded when the carer needs to get in there to assist. (Without going into too much detail)

They don't need to push hoists around, the are sort of built in and electric, not a great explanation. The bed looks like a normal bed but it is also electric, can be raised for care tasks, the back can be raised to help her sit up, base can be raised if her feet need to be raised The en suite is plenty big enough for the carer to go in, it is only a loo and sink, no shower or bath as they are considered a H&S risk if she tried to use them alone.

Alot of the modern equipment doesn't need to look like a hospital.

Bijou that sounds terrible and should reported the CQC, perhaps by your GP.
A relative of mine was sent to a home for a period of convalescence and was the only patient without dementia - she found it frightening as another resident was very aggressive towards her, coming into her room and trying to attack her. She didn't even get her own clothes to wear and went home without them.

Hopefully that is all standard. (Fingers crossed)
It certainly has been in the last few places I've worked.

It's a huge improvement on how things were years ago.

I was training as a social worker in the early 80s and have never forgotten the tutor who said that the rise in the elderly population was a ticking time bomb that no government wanted to address. It's been clearly on the horizon at least that long. Ed Balls wasn't my favourite person.... but I watched the programme and have revised my opinion. He did a very good job and I'm looking forward to the next episode.

The nursing home that my OH was in was newly designed and absolutely state of the art.

A beautiful room, carpeted, with a bed that did not look at all like an institutional bed. En suite wet room with all the necessary equipment. No problems getting hoists etc. over the carpet. French doors out onto a lovey garden. A large cafe area in the entrance hall where residents could make a cup of whatever and eat freshly made cakes, and also the visitors. A bar - they would order in people's favourite tipple. Hairdressing room, library, lounges - small ones that looked like your lounge at home with sofas around the fire. A gym area, a cinema area. Full time activity organisers, including at the weekend. And so on. And it cost-a-load, as you would expect - but nothing less would do and I was prepared to turn my life upside down for him to be there. I wept at some of the other places I looked round.

It can be done - but it costs.

I think we need to be very careful about putting our values onto others, particularly when they are unable to convey their own views succinctly. - so we present them with crap. No-one deserves that.

It can be done - but it costs.

Yes, it can, if someone has the funds. I doubt that the majority do have that much money, though.

Sorry, don't mean to sound grumpy, Luckygirl because I know how hard it was for you at the time and the problems you had. My relative is in a lovely care home but the cost is very high, her funds will not last for ever and if she needs a higher level of care it will cost thousands extra per week or else she will have to move elsewhere, even more unsettling for someone with dementia .

No-one deserves to go to the kind of place Bujou had to endure but cafés, bars, a hairdressing salon are not absolutely necessary. I know two lovely hairdressers who go into care homes to do residents' hair. A gym area, a cinema area?
French doors - my relative would be escaping, sorry.

It sounds like a luxury hotel but more like a care home than a nursing home for those who require a high level of care.

I was impressed by the staff shown in Ed's documentary but didn't think the building itself was really suitable.

I did report it but it is still the same. Probably because the private rooms are more profitable than the private ones.