Care Campaign for the Vulnerable is learning of the pressures faced by conscientious led Care Providers striving to offer a caring and safe environment to both service users and staff. Safety monitoring is proving to be a invaluable care assist tool - bringing a more open and transparent culture into care homes as well as saving valuable resources within the care home sector and the NHS
A distraught daughter contacted CCFTV saying her elderly mum arrived at her care home in June and had cause for concern regarding her well being. Debbie said that she is made to feel unwelcome when asking questions regarding her mother's health and as her mother's Lasting Power of Attorney (LPOA) felt she needed to be kept updated. Debbie said her mum Anne, who has Alzheimer's is vulnerable and had cause to question her care and feels this was the reason some members of staff became 'resentful''. Her mother has now been served a 28-day eviction notice saying the reasons are hidden by a ''false'' claim of 'physical and verbal abuse''. Care Campaign for the Vulnerable is contacted by families saying evictions served to elderly loved ones are hidden behind false claims of'' troublesome'' families or ''abusive'' or ''unacceptable behaviour'' and say are never proven. Families tell us they feel forced to continually complain and when issues are not addressed and dealt with only then providers see fit to ''rid the problem''.
''My family is now pleased our mother is leaving the home. If the care home can falsely accuse a family member of causing physical harm to a carer and blatantly lie then that's not the place for any vulnerable elderly person. It's despicable.''I am shocked and appalled at the accusations made to both myself and my husband. The sequence of events leading to this accusation was the carer whom I spoke to in the morning of Thursday 26th November was very rude and dismissive when I asked her to kindly book an appointment for my sister to WhatsApp video call my mother. This was a rescheduled call request due to the fact that the previous day's scheduled call was not answered by the care home as arranged.
I was told by the carer that I can’t keep “messing around changing appointments” which I found incredibly rude, considering this was not our fault that the care home had failed to answer the scheduled call the previous afternoon. My response to this was that I was merely booking another appointment. The carer huffed, sighed and stated very bluntly that she would have to go and get the diary, I replied “do not bother if it’s an inconvenience” because she made me feel like a hindrance and also said “I will phone the manager directly” to which her reply was “oh do whatever”. Not acceptable.
Thursday 26th November afternoon, My husband and I arrived at the care home with my Mother's clean washing. My husband rang the bell and the carer answered the door with a very blunt “yes” to which my husband replied - his exact words “here is Anne's washing” and he handed her the washing basket, and then asked “can we see mum at the window?” to which the carer replied, “What's with the attitude?!” My husband retorted “I think you are the one with the attitude”. Please tell me where the above statement in question was considered as either verbal or physical abuse? Due to this I, therefore, request outside monitored surveillance for example CCTV to prove this accusation against us is false.
When we came home I was so upset with the atmosphere and how we are made to feel, so we went for a walk. When I returned and saw an email from the care home saying we were served notice to not be seen on the care homes premises as well as a formal 28-day eviction notice. We were stunned and I burst out crying. How could they accuse us of this when this is my mother and we only handed in the washing. It's very evident they do not want to be questioned or pulled up on poor care and so use this blatant untruth tactic of trying to discredit us and an opportunity to serve an eviction and feel vindicated regarding the issues in my mothers care.'' This claim and eviction are absolutely immoral and bewildering.''
Care Campaign for the Vulnerable is supporting families through ''unfair'' evictions. We are in contact with this care home and supporting Debbie and her mother Annie. CCFTV is seeing a worrying increase in evictions during Covid and calling for an independent review on all evictions served in care homes. We support our dedicated care workers. CCFTV understands notice can be served in the best interest of the resident if care needs change and we do attend meetings where staff do all they can to assist families and residents during this time.
"The evidence from Providers who have installed CCTV seems to me to merit careful attention and to be quite persuasive"
Just some of the Care Providers who support our CCTV Safety Monitoring in Care Homes
Download their 'Safety Monitoring In Communal Areas in Care Homes' document
Chiltern and South Bucks District Council SAFE PLACE SCHEME has called on Care Campaign for the Vulnerable to add our support to the initiative for those who are vulnerable in the community to get help if out and about and feeling scared , lost or confused.
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Care Campaign for the Vulnerable is learning of the pressures faced by conscientious led Care Providers striving to offer a caring and safe environment to both service users and staff. Safety monitoring is proving to be a invaluable care assist tool - bringing a more open and transparent culture into care homes as well as saving valuable resources within the care home sector and the NHS