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- Member
Wed May 18, 2011 12:06 pm
Hi
I would like to share some of the things I have experienced over the last 7 weeks since we have had carers coming in to help me and Mum. My Mum has advanced vascular dementia, she can be a bit unstable on her feet, she doesn't like a lot of loud noise or people fussing around her, she is wary of strangers at the beginning. I got the carers in because it was too much for me to do everything for her, they come to get Mum washed and dressed, help her to have something to eat at lunchtime, keep her company/get her a brew or dessert at dinner time so that I can get something to eat, and they help get her ready and into bed at night. So far I have experienced the following:
Going into my bedroom and taking my personal towels to use on Mum - but not bothering to ask me where they can get some.
Calling Mum by the wrong name.
Saying 'Good Lady' to her.
Saying 'Give us a smile' when she is clearly aggitated.
Spilling water on the bathroom floor and not bothering to let me know or clean it up.
Cleaning the commode without asking which cloth, wipes etc to use.
Asking after three mouthfuls of food whether Mum has had enough.
Scrubbing her with a sponge like they were scrubbing their kitchen floor.
Not covering her up whilst she is getting washed.
Not turning on the light in the bathroom whilst she is getting washed.
Not closing the bathroom door whilst she is getting washed.
Taking a very soiled sponge - due to an accident, rinsing it in the water and going back to use it again.
When I complained about some of these things to the manager, one of the Carers then confronted me about it.
I want to know whether anyone else has had experiences like this, if you have, what things happened? Also anyone who has good experience with carers - why is it a good experience, what do they do?
As I understand it, there is no national guidelines or protocols regarding the bathing of clients, the care agency I use, rely on the 'common sense' of carers when attending to a client. If this is not the case, please enlighten me. I think there are a lot of bad carers out there and it is time that something was done to stop this kind of abuse going on. I myself feel dreadful for trusting some of these people to do their job.
Thanks for reading this.
I would like to share some of the things I have experienced over the last 7 weeks since we have had carers coming in to help me and Mum. My Mum has advanced vascular dementia, she can be a bit unstable on her feet, she doesn't like a lot of loud noise or people fussing around her, she is wary of strangers at the beginning. I got the carers in because it was too much for me to do everything for her, they come to get Mum washed and dressed, help her to have something to eat at lunchtime, keep her company/get her a brew or dessert at dinner time so that I can get something to eat, and they help get her ready and into bed at night. So far I have experienced the following:
Going into my bedroom and taking my personal towels to use on Mum - but not bothering to ask me where they can get some.
Calling Mum by the wrong name.
Saying 'Good Lady' to her.
Saying 'Give us a smile' when she is clearly aggitated.
Spilling water on the bathroom floor and not bothering to let me know or clean it up.
Cleaning the commode without asking which cloth, wipes etc to use.
Asking after three mouthfuls of food whether Mum has had enough.
Scrubbing her with a sponge like they were scrubbing their kitchen floor.
Not covering her up whilst she is getting washed.
Not turning on the light in the bathroom whilst she is getting washed.
Not closing the bathroom door whilst she is getting washed.
Taking a very soiled sponge - due to an accident, rinsing it in the water and going back to use it again.
When I complained about some of these things to the manager, one of the Carers then confronted me about it.
I want to know whether anyone else has had experiences like this, if you have, what things happened? Also anyone who has good experience with carers - why is it a good experience, what do they do?
As I understand it, there is no national guidelines or protocols regarding the bathing of clients, the care agency I use, rely on the 'common sense' of carers when attending to a client. If this is not the case, please enlighten me. I think there are a lot of bad carers out there and it is time that something was done to stop this kind of abuse going on. I myself feel dreadful for trusting some of these people to do their job.
Thanks for reading this.
what made me mad was there was a care package of all her needs....they just would not look at the folder....Mum had short term memory so could not remember what they were supposed to do!!!!to top it all I was a long distance carer i travelled to Devon every 3wks and stayed for 1wk just to make sure things were being done right!!!!! Agencies changed 4times in those 6yrs that was the council doing!!!!