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The Relatives & Residents Association exists for older people needing, or living in, residential care and the families and friends left behind at home.
15 July 2014
STAFF RATIOS IN HOSPITALS - WHAT ABOUT CARE HOMES?
NICE - The body that oversees NHS standards has set out draft guidance for hospitals in England, which suggests patient safety is at risk if a nurse has to care for more than eight people during daytime hours.
Sadly, no such advice is forthcoming from the Department of Health or the regulator (CQC) on similar guidance for care homes.
Many hospital wards have trained doctors and nurses on duty some of the time and, often, older patients are those who have capacity and can speak up for themselves.
However, 80% of care home residents have some form of dementia and need help with all aspects of personal care and daily living. We call on the Department of Health to create a level playing field so that care home residents do not lose out.
...A constant refrain on our daily Helpline is that care assistants are over-burdened and too busy to spend enough time with residents. Guidance and preferably regulations on staff ratios in care homes could help make life a lot better for residents and those who care for them...
Judy Downey, Chair, R&RA
11 July 2014
CCTV IN CARE HOMES - THE DEBATE HOTS UP
On Thursday, 10th July, The Relatives & Residents Association (R&RA) hosted an invitation-only symposium in partnership with Ridouts Solicitors at the Royal College of Medicine.
Commissioners, lawyers, providers, regulators and relatives, together with union representatives and other key palyers, held an open and challenging debate on the possibilities and disadvantages of employing CCTV in care homes for older people. Jane Worroll, an R&RA member, whose mother's abuse was captured on CCTV and shown in a BBC Panorama programme, spoke movingly as a relative who had used both covert and overt CCTV in her mother's different nursing homes.
Jane emphasised how its overt use had not only highlighted both poor and good practice but had also helped to encourage better discussion and management of practice by the care home itself.
The R&RA will be carrying out a survey of other relatives with a view to providing further guidance and leadership in this area of policy.
...How sad that there is still so much mistrust where care homes for older people are concerned. But, until care homes are properly managed and fully staffed with trained and supported workers and the regulator takes complaints seriously and inspects with greater frequency, we shall continue to look for systems which will give families the confidence they crave...
Judy Downey, Chair, R&RA
Further details to follow soon
