Vulnerable elderly and families in care deserve better transparency...

I founded six years ago what is now Care Campaign for the Vulnerable, a successful, national, non profit organisation. This was initially set up because of the sadness , anger and feelings of hopelessness I felt when my own mother was abused in her care home . Through Care Campaign for the Vulnerable and the support of our 65,000 dedicated followers we help champion and promote the benefits safety monitoring can bring into care homes for both vulnerable residents and their carers. We are making great progress. But sadly we are sent heart breaking images of loved ones suffering unexplained injuries as well as messages from care workers reciting their innocence when elderly clients suffer unwitnessed falls or accidents. Many of these elderly people that live with dementia are vulnerable and carers who look after them are also left vulnerable. My own experience resonates with the many families who contact us. I placed my elderly mother in care when she could no longer cope living on her own and I had full trust back then in the professional environment I was placing her in. A out of the blue phone call ended this certainty when a whistle blower who worked at my mother’s care home told me she and other vulnerable residents were being cruelly treated. My mum was later admitted to hospital for two weeks with a fractured vertebra. It was then my world stopped. Feelings of anger and guilt presided over everything else I was feeling and seeing my mother so vulnerable and scared was nothing short of heart breaking. I asked back then where was the CCTV to look over these events that occurred. I was told by management the home did not have safety monitoring and it was added rather indifferently that they would never welcome it. A admittance to assaulting my mother to the police from the carer ended with her just being “let go” and it was then our initiative was started raising awareness to CCTV in communal areas in all U.K. care homes.

My mother sadly passed away on 13th November 2019. I took her out of the care sector back home in 2016 where she lived for three years. I decided to do this not because all carers couldn’t or didn’t show care but because I knew the level of transparency that was required around elderly in care homes was not available and therefore it was a environment I did not want to leave my vulnerable mother in.

Today, I speak to and support hundreds of families and carers who recite the same worries I felt back then . Many have far more serious outcomes than my own experiences in care and families tell us the stress of being in the care system often takes it toll on their mental and physical health. . Our vulnerable elderly in care homes need better protection and deserve the best care possible as well as our dedicated care staff. We shouldn’t have families coming to us distraught about loved ones sustaining unwitnessed injuries and being told no answers are available to how such injuries have occurred . We shouldn’t have offending carers being given just a slap on the wrist in too many cases for abusing our loved ones in care. We shouldn’t be in a position in 2020 where families are at the end of their tether suffering severe anxiety and depression when close relatives are being diagnosed with dementia just because they do not know how the care is going to be funded. . Today we hear once again from this Government we may have to wait a possible 5 years before our social care crisis is solved . This really isn’t good enough and confirming what we already know and that is our elderly are without doubt the forgotten generation and quite frankly we should hang our heads in shame ...