Forum Topic

How do you do that?  There are a lot of people who cannot afford to go into care homes.  There are a lot of people who don't want to go into care homes as they don't feel ready to lose that much of their independence.  There are some people who live in care homes almost as if they were living in a  hotel - they spend a fair amount of time out doing their own activities yet have the backup organisation should they need it.  There would need to be more money put into care homes.  Isn't the situation now that those with any money are subsidising those without?  Local Authorities don't pay the same rates for those that they pay for.The situation is the same as that in hospitals.  Staffing costs a lot of money so the staffing tends to be the minimum.  It may be fine when everyone is well and the rota works well but as soon as something goes wrong and there are people missing from the rota...  you get shortages of staff, and staff working longer hours than they should.Care homes need visitors for many reasons.  It takes the pressure off stretched staff if they don't have to spend as much time talking to those staying there.  It is good for those there to go out and see and talk to people who aren't living there.  Whereas once everyone spent more time in the sitting rooms because that was where the radio or television was, nowadays everyone has their own technology - so the social time is around meals but staff of course want to clear up as soon as possible.Since everyone goes back to their rooms after meals it means it can make it that little bit harder to engage residents in organised activities.  These are very valuable and I've heard how much they can be enjoyed - someone singing old songs and a musical concert are two I remember hearing about.  That should be something worth sponsoring.It amazes me the way that people seem to think that they can't visit their friends in care homes.  We might not have so many problems if they did.

Philippa Bond ● 4431d