Abuse From Carers

[Prudie]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2588690/Two-carers-slap-jab-humiliate-brain-damaged-patient-Priory-hospital.html

I know it's the DM but these stories of abuse from care home staff crop up time and time again. Do you think this kind of work attracts those who want to bully the vulnerable or do you think the work itself changes people and makes them act so cruelly? And I know it's a minority but still happens far too much to not ask questions.

[youngmafbog]

I'm not quiet sure what you are getting at but one of my daughters has worked in care homes for years.

She is regularly punched, kicked, spat at and threatened by the patients (Sorry clients). She has also reported some for dubious care, they are however in the minority.

[gness]

Prudie....god knows because I don't...but imagine the family viewing those pictures....it would break your heart.

I can't see anyone taking a job with the sole intention of bullying the vulnerable.....but it happens so often it seems.

Better choice of staff? Better supervision?....I just don't know.

[gness]

Youngmafbog....you don't know what Prudie is getting at? Is your head in the sand?

Patients? Clients? Does it matter? A person is in a care home because he/she needs care....not abuse.

[Peter Pedant]

This is basic stuff - just like you teach till register staff that they cant dip into the till, you teach carers that they cant humiliate their patients.

This is not the whole picture as usual in the Daly Perv - are we told why the family put in secret cameras ? Presumably suspcicous, but from what ?

[cazzz1975]

People with mental disabilities can often display behaviour, this doesn't mean they deserve to be abused.

[Prudie]

I'm saying that we repeatedly hear of patients receiving physical or mental abuse from carers, a lot more than you would expect in a 'caring' profession. Obviously they don't all do it. Take these two women as an example, what I'm asking is if they went into that line of work because they would be in the position to be dominant over others or is the work (like you have described your daughter endues YMB) so stressful that it turns them into these monsters?

[Prudie]

Hello cazz, was only thinking the other day we hardly ever see you anymore.

[gness]

There is a suggestion that hidden cameras in care situations may become the norm. I would welcome that.

Be interesting to see whether staff levels drop in some homes....it shouldn't of course. If they are caring as they should be staff should welcome them too.

It would show how well they do a difficult job....if indeed they are doing it well.

[ummmm]

You don't need qualifications so it attracts people who are not so caring.

[ToraToraTora]

yes I think it does seem to attract those sorts of people who get some sort of sadistic pleasure making other peoples lives a misery. Essentially they are the school bullies who never got enough of an education to get a higher paid job.

[Prudie]

I didn't know that ummmm, perhaps they should.

[ToraToraTora]

The bad ones are the minority of course but they are the ones we hear about.

[andy-hughes]

I think it's a combination of individuals who want the money, but not the work that goes into this profession, and people who are jaded by the constant grinding hard work of caring for unappreciative violent miserable people.

That does not for one moment excuse or condone such behaviour - merely explains it.

My youngest daughter works with senile patients in a care home. She has the patience of several saints, and always smiles and ignores their abuse, and avoids their violence when possible - and her home is a good one with no evidence of abuse of lacking of care.

But of course, there are plenty of people in homes who are just not that lucky, which is tragic. If nothing else, the elderly deserve the dignity of care and respect in their final years.

[LazyGun]

Seeing any carer abusing those they are caring for is sickening, because of the abuse of power and position and because of the callousness and cruelty it displays of the carers to those being cared for. It is shocking because we have an expectation that carers will have a caring attitude.

I think to a degree the work itself can degrade the sensibilities of some carers, dehumanise to some extent those they are expected to care for. I would hope the high profile cases that we see represent a small minority and are unrepresentative of the overwhelming majority, but it is difficult to know.

Better regulation, more encouragement of whistleblowers and a greater involvement of families seems to be the only answer.

[youngmafbog]

No, my head is not in the sand but the post appeared to be saying people went into caring to bully which did not sound quite right.

//You don't need qualifications so it attracts people who are not so caring. //

You can have qualifications, my daughter has them. Also you are CRB checked. Not sure what else you can get.

Considering the number of care workers the bad apples are a small minority. You dont hear about the army of good ones because they are not news.

[anneasquith]

is this the state we now find ourselves, families installing hidden cameras because we don't trust the care our relatives/friends get, that is the tragedy here.

[emmie]

i have come across some useless carers, those who supposedly looked after a relative, i am sure that some patients can be a handful, especially if they have some mental health difficulties, but that is no excuse for bullying and poor care.

[emmie]

we had to call the police about one matter, so it's not unheard of.