Treatment of Elderly in Care Homes - Amnesty International Report

Will it be any better now that we seem to be approaching the second wave? Personally, I doubt it. Healthcare and hospital beds are rationed in an emergency.

Trouble is, HMG will very likely dismiss this report on the grounds that Amnesty International is a left wing organization and 'they would say that, wouldn't they?'

If and when this is all over, history will judge us very harshly on what happened in the care homes perhaps more than anything else. I find it heartbreaking if I think about it.

www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/28/covid-19-risk-of-death-in-uk-care-homes-13-times-higher-than-in-germany?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

How about increasing pay for starters ? Wages are abysmal in very many care homes. Where's the incentive ?

EV I wouldn’t disagree about care workers being better paid ( and trained) but it’s the fundamental model that’s broken. When private equity companies/ hedge funds based in tax havens own many many care homes, how can you make a decent system?

Suziewoozie, paying someone a decent wage in any job is paramount if you want a well-run business. The old adage " pay peanuts and you get monkeys " rings true in many establishments.

Track down and get shut of the shocking greedy owners with their off-shore accounts and dodgy ways of making millions many of them uncontactable in their hideouts abroad.

Since falling into the hands of private owners/ companies , many care homes have either folded or are not fit for purpose, being run by managers, usually untrained.

I firmly believe that we should be taxed enough to pay for good care homes for all. It's too late for most of us on here, but if people paid a ring-fenced levy from the day they start paying tax there would be no need for people to end their days in depressing or underfunded environments.

With decent pay, those running the homes would have a choice of whom to employ, and carers could be chosen based on their aptitude and ability to do the job, and given proper training.

There should be no need for people to become impoverished before they can get decent care after a lifetime of paying tax/NI, and there would be no postcode lottery if all councils (or NHS trusts, or whatever) had a statutory duty to maintain good standards.

I think what happened in care homes was a national disgrace, but I still think children should be in school. I know it’s two separate issues, but some people feel that schools should close to protect the public and particularly the old. I don’t think that at all, but I do think what happened was dreadful and I hope it’ll be better this winter.

I agree with what suziewoozie says. Too much profit is taken out of some care homes, leaving the home with insufficient funds to employ enough staff and facilities.

Some interesting points above but I still maintain that our fundamental social care model is broken. It relies on private profit making businesses ( I know there are some not for profit but they are in the minority). We live in a capitalist system, if you run a business, you want to make money. If you can you may want to shelter your profits in a tax haven. All completely legal and imo inimical to a decent system of social care overall.

Unfortunately you can't train compassion into people who don't have much.
I've worked in places where the walls are lined with certificates showing how well the qualified the staff are, and I'm sorry to say it doesn't always equate to proper care and safe practice.

www.theguardian.com/society/2019/sep/19/84-of-care-home-beds-in-england-owned-by-private-firms?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

www.theguardian.com/society/2019/nov/07/care-home-operators-accused-of-extracting-disguised-profits?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

If you read this and the article above you will see the fundamental failures I refer to. You simply can’t have sticking plaster solutions like better pay and better training to solve it. If we could start over, I’d completely integrate health and social care ( both residential and community) and fund it from the same budget ( financed through general taxation - which also needs overhauling but that’s another thread?).

Here here Doodledog I’m very much in agreement with you.

I agree also with the sentiments underpinning Doodles post but how would better pay work in practice with private profit driven companies! Apart from minimum wage legislation, home owners can choose what to pay. Given how most homes are private, why would they start paying more and reduce their profits? And as people get more desperate for jobs ( and the DWP SofS has already talked about this) more people will have to take on poorly paid jobs in social care like it or not.

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/cineworld-staff-social-care-therese-coffey_uk_5f7ae032c5b64cf6a25314b9

www.spectator.co.uk/article/how-therese-coffey-plans-to-help-millions-back-to-work

Councils sold off their own care and children's homes (and the land surrounding these properties) in the 70/80s to private profit making companies. I thought it was a bad idea then and still do, believing that working fir the council provided security with benefits of in service training, pensions, possibility of promotion, union help with problems or complaints, and annual pay increases. Private companies are there primarily for profit and may not always treat staff properly.
Carers do such an important work and should be valued.