Personal care within a residential home setting.

[ivy1972]

Are there any laws preventing Opposite sex carers providing Personal care within a residential care home setting?
I am horrified to discover that male carers within my Mothers care home have been providing personal & intimate care to my Mother (who has dementia).
She also would be horrified to realise that her dignity has been compromised in this way.
Can anyone direct me to any law around this matter? thankyou.

[ivy1972]

islasmum - A useful link thankyou.

[boxtops]

Unless a preference has been stated, clinical care delivered by any registered nurse should be impartial and patient-centred. The patient's care plan in the care home should identify her wishes, if those are known.

[BAKERS DOZEN]

Thank you Nox. Surely all that matters is that she IS being cared for.

[ivy1972]

NOX - No-one has been vilified.

I have posted for advice around a legal matter - Not I repeat, spurious personal opinions from those who have no knowledge of the matter in question.

This is not a debate - but a request for information.

please take your internet debates elsewhere thankyou.

[sherrardk]

Maybe it is different when it is family as compared to professional carers. Thinking about it, if my mother had needed prolonged care I would have been fine about my brother doing it but I would probably have felt a bit uneasy about a male carer doing it.

[4getmenot]

well said NOX. working in the care sector as well You can request your mother has a female carer. We have many that request that but the family have to sign saying that in some cases because of sickness or annual leave they will have Male carers. I'm sure you'd rather someone cared for your mother than no-one at all.

[boxtops]

It's highly likely that the majority of ivy's mother's care is being delivered by care assistants, not by registered nurses - and there is currently no registration for any support workers, although it's being pressured for. The ratio of registered nurses to care assistants can be quite low at times, with much personal care being overseen but not actually being delivered by the nurses.

[Chaffinch]

Correct Boxtops, I always wonder if relatives would have an aversion to a male registered nurse, if a female patient had a cardic arrest and it was a male nurse, jumping up and down on her chest!

[ivy1972]

Thankyou to all posters and contributors.

I have my answer now.

Many thanks.

[sherrardk]

Sorry, I know you don't want chat, but it is possibly a generation thing too - I would expect to be cared for by either gender but think that my gran (if she was still here) would be mortified to be cared for by a man.

[RATTER15]

You obviously have no idea how distraught a female with dementia can get, you have a very confused lady being stripped having her genitals and breasts washed by a man she has possibly never seen before or does not remember seeing. This would often lead to the lady having great trauma leading to many mental issues or even suicide! and no im not being dramatic!!

TOTAL ABUSE!!!!

[boxtops]

Ratter - having had the privilege of hearing Barbara Pointon MBE speak twice now about caring for her husband with dementia, I'd endorse what you say - the patient has no idea what's going on, and may think she's still living in a previous era in her life. She may be demented but she knows what's happening at that minute, and it's wrong for her.

[Carakeel]

ivy, my 95 yr old mother also has dementia and lives at home with me. She is still mentally capable of making decisions and when she recently had a problem with the skin under her breasts, the female carers that help me look after her were unsure about what to do. I asked her if she would allow ratter (my OH, who is highly qualified) to have a look and she said yes, that she would appreciate this. If she had objected and he had forced an inspection of her breasts on her, she would have been outraged and so would I! Please consider ... would you object to a male nurse in hospital or a male doctor looking after your mother? These are professionals and like ratter has said, your mother (or you, if she is not able to make decisions for herself) can choose whether or not you want to allow a male carer to do personal care for her. Even elderly ladies who do not have dementia quite often feel perfectly alright with a male carer. I have known residents who have at first not wanted a male carer, then specifically requesting that ratter take over their personal care as he always treats the residents with dignity and great respect and is gentle with them. So please don't be too upset by the thought of male carers looking after female residents. It is no different from male paramedics, nurses and doctors. But you do have every right to chose and if you feel your mother would not want this, then you need to demand that she is listed as wanting "female carer only"! You do have a say and they do have to listen to you! I wish you all the best. Your opinion matters!

[NOX]

TOTAL HYSTERIA- on your part not the patient concerned. You have no knowledge of anyone's experiences with dementia to make such idiotic sweeping statements about people you don't know, and it's really not appreciated. You are not the final word on the whole subject simply because it's your profession, other people do have an opinion, are entitled to it and don't appreciate it that you imply that we condone abuse- intentional or otherwise. I don't usually have any issue with anything you post Ratter, but on this one you're just being plain rude to people who don't agree with you to the degree that it's offensive.

[boxtops]

well said, carakeel.

[RATTER15]

Nox, I know what I am talking about, you may think this type of ABUSE is ok, I and the governing body of care homes (CQC) the Alzeimers society and the Dementia Society say it is abuse!

[askyourgran]

I had not given much thought about this matter at all, not having experienced caring for anyone with dementia. What a good thread. I'm sorry for Ivy having this added responsibility for her mother's care. Ratters response and boxtops - made absolute sense. I've learned something today.

[RATTER15]

Thank you askyourgran.

[NOX]

Sorry Ratter, you're just offensive on this and unwilling to bother to listen to anyone's point of view but your own, since you appear to feel you are the last word on the subject. Also why do you feel the need to keep posting the word ' abuse' in capital letters, do you think it gives your opinion more kudos and the rest of us might be intimidated into backing down from their own opinions on the basis that other people might think we really do condone abuse?
For the record ( actually mainly for everyone else because it's clear you are not listening) none of us condone abuse, we simply feel that it's right and appropriate for opposite sex care professionals to offer care to patients. If it is the patient's preference to have same sex carers then obviously that needs to be abided by if at all possible, but it is NOT abuse for anyone to care for anyone else if there is no-one else available and yes people ought to be glad that there are caring people of either sex to look after their loved ones. I certianly would be and so would everyone I know, and for the record I do find your remarks towards those of us that disagree really, really offensive.

[RATTER15]

Chaffinch, just to clarify things a little. A Nursing home is not manned by Nurses, it is manned by exactly the same carers as a residential home, anybody over the age of 18 that has a reasonably clean criminal record.
The only requirement of a Nursing Home is that a qualified Nurse is on duty. This Nurse will rarely do caring but more involved in the medical side of her job, treating wounds and sores, taking bloods and giving injections and medications etc. not the day to day care.