Care Home/Nursing Home

[barry1010]

Does anyone have any experience of residential care homes for the elderly?

How are abusive / aggressive / disruptive residents dealt with? I know every facility is different but there must be some sort of guideline that is applied across the board.

[campbellking]

CQC will carry out inspections to make sure whatever guidelines are in place are being adhered to. Some homes will declare an interest in looking after dementia patients, but of late, even when a trusted assessor has liaised with a home prior to a patient being discharged from hospital ( the homes are not currently allowed to send in their own staff to assess) we are getting patients sent back to hospital within 24 hours for ‘being unmanageable’

[barry1010]

I think one of my elderly relatives will have to go in to some sort of home. He is not the man he was and can be really horrible especially with strangers. I just wondered how he would be treated if we can no longer keep him at home

[jennyjoan]

I am wondering too Barry - sorry state of affairs.

[pixie374]

Barry, if you are still around...
Abusive, aggressive, disruptive people are dealt with mostly by reassurance. It comes from fear. If possible, that person will be guided to their room away from others, or if that isn't possible, other residents might be led away.
Thankfully, for the last couple of decades, you are no longer allowed to medicate somebody, just to make them easier to "handle", but often those people will get meds that benefit them, such as anti-anxiety etc. I have seen a couple of occasions where police, and/or Social Services are called- to keep others safe. And in 27 years, maybe 5 sections. But in each case, they had something extra to dementia- aspergers, schizophrenia, undiagnosed psychosis...
Very often, once people are settled, have at least a slight routine and feel safe and protected, their behaviour settles as well, so it gets less challenging.
I would look at and speak to any specific homes you are thinking of. But everyone has to be trained and qualified in challenging behaviour now. It's dealt with by kindness.

[pixie374]

B&S might be better x

[barry1010]

Thanks, pixie. My relative has dementia and somehow it has turned him from a lovely, gentle man who had a caring job in to a nasty, aggressive racist bigot with a hatred of strangers.

Nobody should have to put up with his behaviour while they are doing their job of looking after him and nobody should be scared - I'm thinking of staff and other residents. Hopefully we can keep him with us but we need to start preparing for the day when we can no longer look after him. It's a worry.

[pixie374]

Really don't worry, Barry. That's nothing unexpected. No staff will ever take "abuse" personally. It isn't about us- it's just communication about the way they are feeling at that time. We did always give non-white staff the option to not go into anybody who was likely to be racist- but none ever refused to. It's upsetting for you, so I'm sorry. It's different for other people though. There are no expectations or disappointments, just acceptance for how they are now.

[ubasses]

Barry, as someone who had to go through it, I looked for a specialist dementia home, read through the CQC reports and visited several. Keep your eyes peeled as you are shown round and see how the staff interact with the residents. One I visited, as I came down the stairs 2 members of staff were wagging their fingers in a gentleman's face and giving him a good telling off. One of the reasons I chose the one I did was because when I was being shown the lounge a carer came in, got down and her haunches to speak to a lady who immediately reached for her hand and held it.
They coped brilliantly with my Mum who went through a phase of being aggressive.
Gut feel counts for a lot.

[barry1010]

Thank you, both, very reassuring.