UKC

Just heard news about Whorlton Hall

https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/

The fact that this story instilled a sense of deja vu in me is rather sad given that I don’t actively chase these stories and presumably have missed a load. I certainly saw on around 15 years ago on Macintyre(?) Undercover which gave me the impression that at least some care workers enter the profession specifically to get an easy position of power and authority over people even if those people are obviously the vulnerable. 

Would be impossible to get numbers but hypothetically it would be intriguing to see how many abusive care workers entered the profession for that reason and how many entered with decent intentions but “turned bad” due to working conditions (anything from boredom, colleague peer pressure, colleague “banter” and cajoling, cynicism etc)

In reply to Blue Straggler:

The problem is that these places pay shit wages so they get shit staff, especially with the unqualified staff. 

With qualified staff I’ve never understood why people would want to work outside the NHS unless they paid you a lot more money and in most cases they don’t. So they get the staff the NHS don’t want.

In reply to webbo:

It doesn't require a qualification to know not to be abusive to a vulnerable person, patience and compassion should be a given.  But I guess the abusive people would be in the staff the NHS don't want. 

In reply to Blue Straggler: What gets me is the thought of how many places like this there might be in the UK, and how many times and to how many people it happens each day. 

In reply to Timmd:

When I used to visit care homes and the managers would discuss their difficulty in getting good staff. I tend to point out they tended to get staff who couldn’t get a job at Lidl or Aldi.

In reply to webbo:

Lidl & Aldi are considered pretty decent payers. Back when Aldi didn't have barcode scanners, the staff were expected to know the prices of the stock, which most did, and they were pretty quick on the cash register. A level of competence they obviously had to reward reasonably well.

In reply to Andy Hardy:

That was my point.

In reply to webbo:

Not sure what your point is.  Your original post implied that people who work for Aldi or Lidl are rubbish as only rubbish people would work for them.  The next level down is then working for a care home.

The reality is quite the opposite.  Aldi and Lidl are well known to pay well (in supermarket terms) and be good employers but to expect hard work in return.  From what I know this is well known and makes them attractive for prospective employees.  I would have thought that would be a good thing in the care sector - reasonably well paid, hard working people.

In reply to tjdodd:

I don't want to speak for webbo but maybe they meant similar to how the Imperial College, London intake of undergraduate students comprises a lot who couldn't get a place at Oxbridge. 

In reply to Blue Straggler:

A couple of work colleagues have partners who worked in various care homes.

A consistent observation was bullying behaviour of junior staff by management.  As well as setting the tone for staff conduct, I can’t imagine the management having much respect for the patients given how they treat their staff.

It was very similar stuff to what I hear from a lot of the teachers I know.

In reply to wintertree: There's got to be an element of lack of compassion in staff who ignore the distress of a patient though, whatever the culture of the place surely?

I can't remember if it was a female with learning difficulties or severe autism, but the women who were dealing with her joked about 'pressing the man button' when they wanted two blokes to come and control her, and then they talked about her not liking men to one another while she was being distressed after being handed over.  

In reply to Timmd:

The issue is that patience takes time and a lot of effort when you have the time. if you have your boss on your back about you dealing with a whole load of people in the shortest possible time you are unlikely to be able to offer the care required.

Caring for people with sever mental illness or developmental and learning difficulties as and incredibly difficult job and can be frustrating for someone with the patience of a saint.

The lack of communication alone makes things difficult, you hear the people in this home talking to the patients as if they understand what they are saying. The chances are they haven't a clue, but the workers haven't grasped this and just think they are being obstructive.

In reply to tjdodd:

What I was tying to imply which clearly I didn’t. In the world of unskilled and unqualified staff Lidle and Aldi get the cream because they are prepared to pay decent wages and the poorest paying care homes  get the people who cannot get jobs anywhere else.

In reply to Blue Straggler:

I hope these scum are identifiable from the reports and cctv and the people concerned, doubtless local and known, are approached by the families and friends and given a royal beating the likes of which they wont easily forget.