We support, inform and speak on behalf of older people in care
On 22 May we wrote to the Care Quality Commission expressing our disappointment with the role they have taken during the Covid-19 pandemic, and urging them to urgently reconsider their approach to ensure the rights of people using care services are protected. The letter was covered in several national newspapers, including the Observer, Independent and the Telegraph as […] Read More...
R&RA’s chair, Judy Downey, has written to the Care Quality Commission to express our disappointment with the role they have taken during the Covid-19 pandemic. The letter urges CQC to urgently reconsider their approach to ensure the rights of people using care services are protected. The full text of the letter is below: The Relatives […] Read More...
R&RA’s Deputy Chair, Trish Davies, shares a poem, written to commemorate her mother Pat Cooper Lament Being old did not define them the lives they lived the lives they gave and made through hardship and hard work with few if any luxuries. The loves they loved and gave, the hugs, the smiles, some tears, much […] Read More...
The Relatives & Residents Association reported to the BBC Radio 4 Today Programme on the inappropriate use of words like ‘frailty’ on death certificates. The helpline received two calls in a week about the use of such words. The calls highlighted two separate issues: COVID-19 being listed as the cause of death when it may […] Read More...
The Relatives & Residents Association are working to ensure the voices of older people using care services, and the families/friends who support them, are heard during the Coronavirus crisis. Recently we have highlighted the following key concerns and issues, arising from our helpline callers: lack of access to medical care concerns about staffing levels, lack […] Read More...
4 May 2020: R&RA Trustee, Des Kelly OBE, on the future of social care: “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.” There has never been a better time to apply the wisdom of this proverb to the social care sector. Care homes (across the […] Read More...
As visits to care homes are restricted to try and prevent the spread of Coronavirus, staying in touch with family and friends by other means becomes all the more important. Some care homes have risen to this challenge. Here we share some examples of care staff supporting older people in care to keep in touch […] Read More...
Care homes across the country have shut their doors to visitors in an attempt to control the spread of Coronavirus. The R&RA Helpline has received an influx of callers seeking information and advice on how they can support their older relatives in care from afar. We hear daily from callers about what it is like […] Read More...
R&RA’s Chair, Judy Downey, and our Deputy Chair, Trish Davies, share personal accounts of their relatives who, sadly, passed away during Coronavirus. A moving piece in the Huffington Post remembers the incredible lives of older people in care, revealed by families keen to change attitudes about their relatives. Read the article here. Read More...
R&RA feature in Care Management Matters magazine, in a COVID-19 special edition. At a time when we are being told to stay at home and care homes are restricting visiting to try and prevent the spread of Coronavirus, staying in touch with relatives by other means becomes all the more important. Our director shares R&RA’s […] Read More...