LATEST NEWS

30 October 2012

'Voice of Russia' Radio considers cost of stopping care home abuse

After last week's sentencing of eleven care workers for abusing patients in a private hospital, serious questions are once again being raised over how well-equipped the British social care system is to look after vulnerable people - both young and old.

Following BBC Panorama's exposé into Winterbourne View - Radio's Voice of Russia, Brendan Cole, discusses the issue with R&RA Chair, Judy Downey and others.

...I think that the divide that we have at the moment between social care and health is really one of the most scandalous things in this country...

Listen to Voice of Russia broadcast here

 

28 October 2012

BBC Radio 5 Live Investigates 

Radio 5 Live reports on how care homes which have been awarded five star ratings are failing to meet even the minimum standards of the regulator. Judy Downey speaks to 5 Live Investigates presenter Adrian Goldberg

...we protect children in need, we don't seem to protect older people in need in the same way...

Listen to 5 Live Investigates broadcast here

 

9 October 2012

Secretary of State for Health speech at Conservative Party Conference

The Secretary of State for Health, Jeremy Hunt, gives his speech at the 2012 Conservative Party Conference

...the shocking failures of care at Mid Staffs where a patient with C-diff was left to lie naked in their own excrement. The bullying of a man with Parkinsons at East Surrey hospital. The kicking of disabled residents at Winterbourne View care home. The slapping of an older woman with dementia at Ash Court care home.
   Last month the Royal College of Physicians published a report about the way older people are looked after in our hospitals. It said "the system continues to treat older patients as a surprise, at best, or unwelcome at worst".
   Strong words...

 Read Jeremy Hunt speech to Conservative Party Conference here

 

28 September 2012

R&RA and Jane Worroll meet with CQC

R&RA and Jane Worroll (daughter of Maria Worroll who featured in the Panorama exposé in April 2012) meet with representatives of the Care Quality Commission to discuss Mrs Worroll's case and repeat the charity's calls for an overhaul to the way the regulator operates.

 

11 September 2012

CQC accountability hearing at Health Select Committee

The Care Quality Commission gives evidence to the Health Select Committee in their annual accountability hearing.

Watch CQC evidence to Health Select Committee here

 

7 September 2012

Jo Williams resigns from CQC

Jo Williams, Chair of the Care Quality Commission,the body which inspects and regulates care homes for older people, announces resignation.

Read BBC report here
Read Independent Newspaper report here 

 

1 September 2012

'I turned spy to protect my mum'

Jane Worroll, daughter of abuse victim in Panorama exposé, talks to Good Housekeeping magazine about the painful decision to put her mother into care and why she felt betrayed by the authorities.

Read article page 1 here
Read article page 2 here

 

31 July 2012

Over 90 investigations in a single home in a six-month period

R&RA speaks out on BBC Radio Essex after hearing allegations that more than 90 investigations into the care of residents at a single home in Essex have been opened in a six-month period. The charity is repeating its calls to Ministers for an urgent overhaul of the regulator, the Care Quality Commission, which inspects and regulates care homes for older people.

Read more here

 

31 July 2012

LGO report on key emerging trends in Adult Social Care complaints

The Local Government Ombudsman - the body which looks at complaints about councils and adult social care providers, including care homes, releases report on key emerging trends in Adult Social Care complaints.

To access report go to this weblink and click on Adult social care: LGO - the single point of contact for complaints


20 July 2012

Punished for being prudent

R&RA speaks to Daily Mail about their report that 40,000 couples or individuals each year are forced to sell up to pay for residential care as their faculties diminish.

...This is the generation that went through the war and the Great Depression. They're not the sort to complain and successive governments have taken advantage of that...

Read Daily Mail article here

 

17 July 2012

R&RA submission to Health Select Committee on CQC

R&RA makes submission to Health Select Committee in advance of annual accountability hearing with the Care Quality Commission

...The evidence from callers to our helpline would suggest that the experience of the residents of poor quality care is not exceptional and neither is the lack of immediate action by CQC when complaints are made...

Read R&RA's submission to Health Select Committee here