Yet Another Care Home Rated 'Inadequate'.

How many rated inadequate this year ?

In my experience of the CQC they never really see what goes on normally.
I worked on a busy Delivery Suite. We had a Glory Corner where odds and ends were put and left. We always knew when someone important or the CQC were due because it got cleared out, skirting boards washed and a fresh lick of paint. An easy chair and a small table with magazines and a potted plant appeared but soon disappeared when the visit was over.
The CQC need to turn up UNANNOUNCED in order to see what really goes on. As it is they arrange a date to visit and then it's all hands to the pumps, to repair, clean and present everything as running like clockwork when in reality it is anything but.
Until the CQC changes then nothing else will.

Of course we only hear about the bad news. No news programme is going to highlight 'terrific care homes' full of happy people and with good caring staff.

I think we need to see this in proportion. There are nearly 17,000 care home sin the UK and it is inevitable that when they are rated, some will be found waiting.

This does not mean failing homes are acceptable. they aren't, but at least they are being identified and be closed own or told to improve under threat of closure and we must remember the many, many more who are providing good and excellent care.

Unfortunately I think it was ever thus windmill. Institutions of any kind need enforced standards and constant monitoring to ensure they maintain high standards - hospital, prisons and schools come to mind too.

My uncle has just moved in to a care home by choice. It's amazing! I'm just sorry it's so far from us (but near his immediate family). It even beats the home I volunteer at which is saying a lot! NB both these places have very high scores from accreditation orgs.

My brief (thank God) stay in a care home coincided with a visit by the CQC representative. It was sign-posted some days previously so all was furiously spruced up and tidied away.

The matron/manager steadfastly accompanied the inspector and social worker who tripped from inmate to inmate asking for opinions. The look on the manager's face conveyed the unmistakeable warning "Be careful what you say......"

Understandable though windmill. Anyone under scrutiny is going to feel awkward.
I used to carry out inspections of specialist care homes as part of a team and it was always possible to look beyond the obvious.

When I have spoken to any questioning always on my own

I work in a care home and our rating is good. I’ve worked there for nearly seven years.
We have not seen a CQC representative since before Covid 🤷‍♀️

I'm getting to the age where a care home is definitely on the horizon. But I dread the thought as I read so many negative things about them. Also there is a distinct lack of vacancies in them anyway as so many have closed down.

My dad went into a delightful home for quite a while. It wasn't large 6 rooms? [I can't remember] and food was cooked properly on the premises with a cheery cook. Well behave pets were allowed too. Each resident had their own room and dad's looked out onto green space. He was happy there until the owner was told by the powers that be that they'd have to close down because the doors were just a tad small - even though they were safe in my book and the home had been in use for many years. Dad had only one other place to go and from then on he went down hill. It was very sad.

henetha please remember that only negative news seems to fixated on by the media. Why not be proactive and go and visit a few in your area? See what you think. Maybe try a respite visit? If you do need a care home eventually, make it a positive choice rather than wait for a crisis and admission to anywhere that has a vacancy.

My mother had dementia and one of her neighbours told me to go and see her if my mother had to go into a home. When the time came, I went to see the neighbour and discovered that she was a hairdresser who goes round homes.
She made a very good recommendation.
The annoying thing was that there were people there who were being paid for by the tax payer and the home got less from them than we were paying from the sale of mum's house.

That makes perfect sense, Aveline. Thank you.

henetha If you see a home you like, see if you can go on a waiting list.

My aunt knew that she would need residential care if her DH predeceased her, so she had been to see some homes, liked one and put her name on a list. She soon reached the top of it and knew that if she did need care she would get the next available room. As it happened she died first, so never needed to go into a care home.

Quite separately i have told my children never to put me in a home that takes people paod for by the state. Nothing to do with snobbishness or anything, but as Liz46 points out self financing residents pay higher fees to subsidise those supported by the state.

I have never objected to paying all the tax I am due to pay, and on similar matters of principle I am happy to pay Inheritance tax and would never try to dispose of money so that my care is state aided. But I really, really object to these effectively personalised taxes inflicted on small groups of helpless residents in care homes that depend on them to pay extra to subsidise the state financed residents.

I will be one of your state financed residents one day probably sooner than later & get sick of opinions like yours MOnica! Have been looked down on most of the last 40 years after being medically retired! Sick of being sneered at for ‘living off the state’! I dont like the way my life has ended up & dread going into a home that does not like having to take the bottom of the pack as I have been called! Did not ask for this or to be treated like I have the plague!

SillyNsnny please try to ignore it, it is not true

SillyNanny321 Please do not read into my post what is not there. I said nothing at all about people living off the state. My complaint was narrowly focussed on local councils who expect the specific residents of specific care homes where they place residents to finacially subsidise those they place there.

The fault lies with the councils who are unwilling to pay the true cost of keeping someone in care. I thought I had made it clear that I have no argument with the state assisted residents themselves, nor did I make any comment on the difficult lives many have lived for them to need the help of the state.

Let me say it again, it is the councils at fault who expect those already resident in the home who are self financing to effectively pay an extra levy specific to their home to enable those who are statefunded to live their. A universal levy on all care home residents, or all taxpayers would be better and fairer system. Councils riding on the backs of fellow residents who are often in no position to move is unjust and wrong.

Thank you but sounds like another person with a better position in life taking a dig at those of us who through no fault of their own have ended up on the ‘bottom of the pack! Has happened too many times since having to take early medical retirement when I wanted to stay in the job I loved & had worked for from school! Sorry if I offend but I probably do have a chip on my shoulder as is something else I have been told when trying to defend myself against being called things like ‘dole hole scrounger’ by a gentleman in a supermarket! Why I do not know apart from the fact that I have had to rely on a stick for years. Maybe my face just did not fit or he thought I was in his way! Also told me I should put myself in a Home if i could find one that would take me! Thank you Anniebach for your words!

As a retired inspector told me: councils are between a rock and a hard place. Unscrupulous owners know that there is little chance of being closed because ( stating the obvious here) the council would have the problem of finding places for the homeless residents 😥
So, inspectors have to walk a very fine line between a home that is putting residents in danger and the general area not being as clean and sparkling as it should be.
One job that does raise the scoring is an activities coordinator.
One home that I’m very familiar with ( family work there) leaves a lot to be desired but they do have an activities coordinator 🤔

Care homes do close sadly. Sometimes the costs are impossible to reconcile with good quality care.

The care home I worked in previous to this one, I worked in for seven years and that one,with about three weeks notice we were told it was closing
Broke my heart because I really did love working there luckily I have found another home that I really love working in so it’s all worked out in the end
We do have a very good activities coordinator and also all our staff are very caring, you certainly don’t go into care for the money… I could get more working in a Wetherspoons than I get at my care home, but the job satisfaction would be nowhere near as rewarding
I’m 72 now and will carry on working as long as I can. I only do 18 hours a week every afternoon is two till eight but as I said so many times before I love my job.
Obviously the only downside is when our residents die and that is very distressing for a lot of the staff because some residents don’t have any family or no family that visits and we become like their family and that is a privilege but heartbroken when they go..

Shinamae

The care home I worked in previous to this one, I worked in for seven years and that one,with about three weeks notice we were told it was closing
Broke my heart because I really did love working there luckily I have found another home that I really love working in so it’s all worked out in the end
We do have a very good activities coordinator and also all our staff are very caring, you certainly don’t go into care for the money… I could get more working in a Wetherspoons than I get at my care home, but the job satisfaction would be nowhere near as rewarding
I’m 72 now and will carry on working as long as I can. I only do 18 hours a week every afternoon is two till eight but as I said so many times before I love my job.
Obviously the only downside is when our residents die and that is very distressing for a lot of the staff because some residents don’t have any family or no family that visits and we become like their family and that is a privilege but heartbroken when they go..

Not every afternoon, three afternoons a week 🤷‍♀️