Care in the UK over two weeks in December 2012

1 December 2012: TENS of thousands of vulnerable people are being physically and mentally abused by the very people meant to be caring for them. Disturbing figures reveal that 130,000 adults were ill treated – usually at the hands of carers or family. Abuse most often took place in their own home or care home.  Read more here.

1 December 2012: Abuse of elderly patients by NHS staff rises by a third in one year with a  shocking 36,000 offences reported last year alone.  Read more here.

1 December 2012: Care home regulation criticised by Norman Lamb.  Regulation of the care sector is not fit for purpose, care minister Norman Lamb has said as he unveiled proposals on English care homes for consultation. He also said there was a “significant lack of corporate accountability for the quality of care”. One suggested measure involves companies having to open up their books to inspectors to ensure they are financially sound. Read more here.

1 December 2012: Care home companies could be forced to open books to prevent another ‘Southern Cross’ collapse.  Read more here.

4 December 2012: Care home job advertisements ‘encouraging’ criminals to apply.  Convicted criminals have been encouraged to apply for jobs in care homes looking after frail, elderly people.  Read more here.

4 December 2012: Ann Clwyd, Labour MP tells of inhumane treatment and says she fears normalisation of cruelty now rife among NHS nurses.  Ann Clwyd has said her biggest regret is that she didn’t “stand in the hospital corridor and scream” in protest at the “almost callous lack of care” with which nurses treated her husband as he lay dying in the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff.  Read more here.

4 December 2012: Melton Court care home to be closed by Friday. The manager of a South Yorkshire care home, which has been ordered to close by Friday, says she is in talks with two potential new providers. The 21 residents at Melton Court in Maltby have to find new homes, after it emerged the owner is in prison. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) revoked Ishtiaq Zahir’s licence and said the home is operating illegally.  Read more here.

5 December 2012: A PENSIONER with Alzheimer’s died after she plunged down a lift shaft when the door was left unsecured, a court heard yesterday. Annfield Plain company faces health and safety charges after tragedy.   Read more here.

5 December 2012: Wrexham – Concerns over care at mental health hospital.  Read more here.

6 December 2012: Leicester – Dementia sufferer ‘left in agony’ at George Hythe House care home in Beaumont Leys, court hears.  An 89-year-old dementia sufferer was left in agony for four hours with a broken thigh  because a care home supervisor could not be bothered to assess her, a   jury heard. Sarah Bewley was “too busy” doing paperwork to see the woman after she suffered a fall, despite several requests from a care assistant, it was claimed.  Read more here.  See below.

7 December 2012: Regulator moves closer to setting up ‘negative register’ of adult care staff.   If the proposals are approved by government, a national code of conduct would be applied to workforce and the HCPC would consider serious complaints made about individual professionals; any decisions to uphold a complaint would be made public, as would the resulting sanction.

A “negative register” would be maintained of those found unfit to practise.  Read more here.

7 December 2012:  Leicester – Jury clears Leicester care home boss of neglect charge.  After the not guilty verdict was announced, Judge Lynn Tayton QC said: “This case raises very worrying issues, particularly concerning systems that seemed to be in place which created a situation in which no-one took responsibility for the care of this lady.  “She was left in severe and unnecessary pain for a number of hours.”I hope those in charge of the home have looked at the systems and the staff training.” Read more here.

7 December 2012:   Chorley, Lancs – A care-home worker and her husband who subjected  their children to years of horrific abuse were facing jail yesterday after being  convicted of cruelty.  Read more here.

8 December 2012: Wolverhampton – An investigation has been launched into safeguarding at a care home, which helps people with mental health, drugs and alcohol problems.  Read more here.

8 December 2012: Derby – A national health watchdog has issued a damning report on a privately-run Derby care home.  The Care Quality Commission has told the company  that owns Cleeve Villas Nursing Home, in Wilson Street, to do more to protect the safety and welfare of residents – or face legal action.  Among the problems identified were:

• No organised stock control system of medicines
• Failure of staff to update crucial medical documents
• Care plans reviews not completed on time
• Failure to ensure prescribed medicines were always available
• Medicine doses not being documented, meaning it was unclear whether medications had been administered
• No appropriate systems in place for the safe disposal of medicines when they were no longer required.

Read more here.

Read the CQC report on Cleeve Villas here.

That list of failures is just the kind of thing most people don’t know about, so  awareness raised to the top is what we need in the world of care.

When it comes to the comment made by the spokeswoman for Cleeve Villas Care Services : “As a dedicated provider of care services, we at Cleeve Villas have taken on board the suggestions from CQC as to how to enhance our overall performance and have already taken steps working with a specialist healthcare consultancy to address these.”Our aim as always is to ensure the individual and complex needs of our residents are met.”

I don’t believe you.  Yet.  This is not the first CQC detailing same/similar problems.   What has taken you so long to show that you care enough to provide good quality care?

9 December 2012: Vulnerable care home residents are treated like “brutes or malfunctioning machines”, said Hilary Mantel, the author, as she spoke of the “utterly depressing” search to find accommodation for a disabled friend.  Read more here.

10 December 2012:  We haven’t a clue how much a care home will cost us.  The vexed question of how we pay for the care needs of Britain’s ageing population rears its ugly head so often that it is no wonder everyone thinks it is a pain in the neck.  Read more here.

10 December 2012: Star ratings: Families need reliable information on care home performance.  Read more here.

10 December 2012: Preventative care for elderly under threat.  Services have been cut or frozen by two-thirds of local councils since coalition came to power, according to ComRes study.  Read more here.

10 December 2012: A Birmingham care home is being investigated by council and health bosses amid  allegations of neglect.  Bramley Court Care Home, in School Road, Yardley Wood, is facing the probe  after a complaint was made about the standard of care given to elderly  residents. New admissions have been suspended while a joint investigation is carried out  by the city council and NHS Birmingham and Solihull.  It is not the first time the home has been in the spotlight over its  treatment of residents. In August a report by watchdog, the Care Quality Commission, found residents  were being put at risk of not receiving adequate food and drink.  Read more here.

10 December 2012: Winterbourne View scandal prompts new care guidelinesReport warns that care sector risks slipping back into institutional culture typified by Victorian asylum system.

The report warns that, elsewhere, staffing cuts caused by reduced fees paid to care providers are causing residents to be left alone for hours at a time and are fostering excessive reliance on use of drugs and on physical restraint, “often for minor perceived misdemeanours”.

Brendan Sarsfield, Family Mosaic’s chief executive, said: “We would argue that if providers don’t believe this has ever happened in their services, it just may be that they haven’t looked hard enough.  Read more here.

10 December 2012: Care home provider Family Mosaic has warned that the care sector is in danger of slipping back into the institutional ways of the past and is urging care providers “not to be complacent” and be vigilant for danger signs of abuse.  Read more here.

10 December 2012: Winterbourne View scandal: Government rethinks use of hospitals.  Norman Lamb said “”We need to have a situation where people who run care organisations – public or private sector or voluntary – know that they are accountable for the services they provide and there are consequences if they don’t.”  You can’t argue with that so let’s home he brings about accountability.  Read more here.

12 December 2012: Copthorne, Sussex – Care home boss suspended over death of patient.  A care home manager has been suspended by the Nursing and Midwifery Council over allegations she shredded a document to cover up a mistake which led to the death of a resident. The resident of  Orchid View care home in Copthorne was given three times the prescribed dosage of Warfarin, a drug used to prevent blood clots, over 17 days in 2010. Read more here.

12 December 2012: Stockton care home boss denies a catalogue of failures.  Meal times at the home were “appallingly organised” and 15 out of 17 patients  lost weight over a one-month period, the Nursing and Midwifery Council heard.  Read more here.

12 December 2012: York care home warned to make urgent improvements.  The Care Quality Commission has issued a formal warning to Mimosa Healthcare (No 4) Limited, which is the registered provider of Birchlands Care Home, that they are failing to protect the safety and welfare of the people using the service.  Read more here.

12 December 2012: Wall Heath care home told to shape up or face enforcement action.  The Care Quality Commision (CQC) is demanding an improvement in the standards of care at Holbeche House after inspectors found failings during an unannounced visit in October.  The Wolverhampton Road home, which is run by Four Seasons (Bamford) Limited, was found to be below standards for the care and welfare of service users and assessing and monitoring the quality of services.  Andrea Gordon, deputy director of operations (central region) for CQC, said: “The law says these are the standards that everyone should be able to expect. Providers have a duty to ensure they are compliant.  Read more here.

12 December 2012: Nurse at Rodborough care home slept with vulnerable female patient and invited another to swingers’ parties. Trevor Rice, a senior triage mental health nurse at Park House Mental Health Resource Centre, was formally removed from his post by a Nursing and Midwifery Council disciplinary committee on November 23.   Read more here.

12 December 2012: A bungling nurse who was cleared to work in Sussex despite making a number of shocking errors is being investigated for a second time.   Nicanor Sindanum made national headlines after he was allowed to continue to work as a nurse despite being found guilty of 17 serious errors by a nursing panel while working in Scotland.   In June this year a nine-month banning order imposed by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) in September 2011 was revoked and replaced with conditions of practice order.  This meant that, despite his failings, Sindanum was allowed to start work for an Eastbourne care home so long as he told bosses that he had restrictions placed on him. But now it has emerged that Sindanum faces a second investigation for alleged failings dating from 2009.  Read more here.

13 December 2012: Slyne-with-Hest, Lancashire – Four people have been charged with offences under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 following a police investigation into the mistreatment of residents at a care home in Slyne.  Read more here.

13 December 2012: Wales – More should be done to reduce Wales’ reliance on using care homes as a way to look after older people, says a group of Assembly Members.  The assembly’s health committee has backed moves to help people keep their independence for as long as possible. Families need simple and accessible information about the options available for elderly relatives, it said. It pointed out that many elderly people who pay for their own care were unaware of the help available to them.  Read more here.

13 December 202: Panshanger, Welwyn, Herts -Massive arrogance’ jibe as ‘out of scale’ care home plans thrown out.  Read more here.

13 December 2012: Morpeth, Northumberland – Coroner hits out at care of woman in Morpeth home.  Mr Brown, recording a narrative verdict, yesterday concluded the fall “did  play a part” in Mrs McEwan’s death as the fractured femur caused immobility  which made her more susceptible to the fatal complaint. The coroner also found three serious failures in the care of Mrs McEwan.

He ruled senior carer Stephanie Wilson had left Mrs McEwan’s bed in an  elevated position, moments before she fell while trying to get into it.

Furthermore, Mr Brown said staff had failed by phoning a doctor’s surgery  instead of an ambulance after the fall, even though Mrs McEwan was in obvious  pain and in need of such care immediately.

Finally, the coroner said workers had been wrong to lift Mrs McEwan back on  the bed, saying they should have left her where she was comfortable until the  ambulance arrived.

Mr Brown nevertheless accepted that staff had been misguided and in need of  better training rather than motivated by malice.  Read more here.

13 December 2012: Croydon  – Are Croydon care homes up to the job of looking after borough’s most vulnerable?  Nearly a third of care homes in the south of the borough are failing patients and residents in one or more key standard, an Advertiser investigation has found.

Campaigners for better care say the findings paint a “dire” picture for sick and elderly people at a time when savings in care provision are set to be enforced.

Among those that are failing in one or more key standard are homes which charge elderly people up to £800 a week.

Stuart Routledge, chief executive of Age UK Croydon, said: “It is appalling that any nursing home should fail to protect the dignity and respect of their patients and residents.

“This survey underpins the urgency for social care funding reform so that those older people who struggle daily with chronic ill health, frailty and disability have the peace of mind that they will be well cared for at their time of need.

“In particular, this shows the dire consequences of a social care system that has been under increasing financial pressure over the last eight years and in many areas is now financially stripped to the bone.

“Staff across health and care services have a professional and moral duty to make sure the dignity of their patients and residents is enshrined in every action. This means involving people in decisions about their care, providing care that treats people with respect and helping people to be as independent possible.”

Read more here.

CQC’s new excellence scheme for adult social care. Or another half-baked plan?

It was perhaps last June 2010 (or thereabouts) that I first read of the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) plan to create an ‘excellence’ award and reward for adult care homes, but I discarded the thought then – perhaps hoping it would go away!!  Reminding myself then that the CQC was the Regulator of health and social care in England.  True enough, that’s what the CQC thinks too:

‘We are the independent regulator of health and social care in England.

We regulate care provided by the NHS, local authorities, private companies and voluntary organisations. We aim to make sure better care is provided for everyone – in hospitals, care homes and people’s own homes. We also seek to protect the interests of people whose rights are restricted under the Mental Health Act.’

Sadly, CQC has now come back and announced plans to develop a new scheme to ‘recognise excellence in adult social care.  The scheme – set to be launched in April 2012 – will be CQC-owned, but delivered by other organisations under licence.  A consultation on how to define excellence in adult social care will launch in May, building on work carried out for CQC by the Social Care Institute for Excellence.‘

So, SCIE was commissioned by CQC, and SCIE has been beavering away since September 2010 trying to define excellence, with meetings arranged to discuss.  SCIE’s early research suggested that an excellent care service is one that:

• makes it possible for people to have control over big decisions about their life and the small day-to-day decisions.  They should also be able to play a key role in how services are run
• supports and encourages people to have good relationships with their partners, families, friends, community and care staff
• enables people to do activities that they find important, enjoyable and meaningful
• has good systems and practices in place to ensure that people achieve the three outcomes above, on an ongoing basis.

The remainder of that SCIE document explains each of these elements in more detail and suggests how they could be demonstrated and measured.

The minutes of a CQC Board Meeting held 15 September 2010 in Newcastle-upon-Tyne read as follows

20. SCIE’s programme of engagement and research will take place over the winter.

21. Under the new model providers would need to demonstrate they were sustaining essential standards over a six month period before they could apply to have excellence status.

22. In discussion Board members welcomed the dynamics of the proposed model but were concerned that an excellent service could easily fail and there was a difference in meeting essential standards and maintaining a good record.  It was important the public understood the difference.

23. They felt it was also important to define excellence from a users’ perspective and questioned how far thinking had gone to define and collect outcomes.

24. The Director of Regulatory Development commented that evidence would be examined by user panel who would consider all aspects when working through the outcomes.

25. Board members asked if this regulatory activity was within current resources and were assured that of part of the field force model 10% capacity had been retained to carry out this work.

26. The Chair commented that excellence was defined by peoples’ experiences and quality of life issues.  It was important that providers demonstrated they were consistently good before applying for excellence status.  There was a need to engage with local authorities who have been working with a different rating system in order to provide a single system.

ACTION:  Development of the ratings proposals for adult social care to be brought to the December Public Board meeting – Director of Regulatory Development

:

I am now totally perplexed, because I naively believed and understood that one of the main functions of the CSCI/CQC was/is to be aware of all those elements that must be seen to be present in any care home that CSCI/CQC allowed to call itself a care home.  What was/is the purpose of CSCI/CQC if not to ensure that each and every care home it registered was fully equipped and able to provide an acceptable – nay, excellent – standard of care? It should be within the remit of CQC to understand already a definition of ‘excellence’, not to spend 2 more years deliberating further before introducing a reward scheme.

Quote: “Our aim is to make sure that better care is provided for everyone, whether it is in hospital, in care homes, in people’s own homes , or anywhere else that care is provided.  We also seek to protect the interests of people whose rights are restricted under the Mental Health Act.  We promote the rights and interests of people who use services and we have a wide range of enforcement powers to take action on their behalf if services are unacceptably poor“.

I hadn’t noticed the words ‘unacceptably poor‘ before now – much to my regret – but I’ve been only too aware of the inadequacies and failings of CSCI/CQC (the name was changed to protect the guilty, perhaps!).  CSCI/CQC have willingly accepted services that were ‘poor’ or barely ‘adequate’ without actually doing anything to improve those services, without insisting on improvements, without rigorous inspection and enforcement action.  CSCI/CQC have been complicit all along!  A Eureka moment for me this week, with this latest half-baked scheme.

Now we are to have some kind of privatised award scheme, additionally funded – in reality – by the residents themselves, with the care providers being rewarded for doing what they are supposed to have been doing all along!!!  The rationale for that escapes me totally.

It is to be a voluntary scheme, outsourced to ‘other organisations under licence’.  That can only mean privatised, via the very privatised care system that is almost in place everywhere now.

The Care Standards Act 2000 expired in September 2010, and along with its departure went the National Minimum Standards for care homes for older people which came within that Act, now expired.

CQC decided to abandon the pathetic star-rating system that it had created – meaningless star-ratings they were too.  I was never a fan of those star-ratings and fairly pleased to see them vanish.  But ….

CQC then decided to create Essential Standards of Quality and Safety – almost like the a cheap supermarket brand.  ‘Outcomes’ became the buzzword – with ‘input’ being undefined, as far as I can see.  But still the CQC promised to monitor those ‘essential standards’.

CQC then made the baffling (to me!) decision to allow care homes and care home providers to inspect themselves and to submit their own paper-based assessments!

Now, we are to be treated to a kind of X-Factor of Care show, with another layer of comfort being made available to the care providers, the very people who should be providing ‘excellent care’ in the first place.

This new plan may trivialise not only care, but the CQC.

Each and every care home should be forced to provide excellent care, not rewarded for doing so.  The small care home that already provides excellent care will not be able to compete with the big fat-cat care home providers who will muscle in on this one.  With ease the fat-cats will lick the cream, while hiding behind a facade of caring care in the UK.

15 February 2011: CQC has told Sandhall Park Nursing and Residential Home that it is failing to meet essential standards in quality and safety and must take action to address concderns over care and welfare.

But look back to the inspection reports from 4 July 2007,  then 29 April 2008, and again 28 April 2009 – and the CSCI/CQC watched Mimosa Healthcare (No 4) Limited go from ‘good’ to ‘adequate’ to ‘2-star good’ rating even though back in 2007 there were serious Statutory Requirements made following that inspection – all of which appear to relate to the reasons mentioned in February 2011 for Sandhall Park being in breach of regulations and receiving a warning notice.

Why did it take 4 years for CQC to notice a failing care home?

2 February 2011: Admissions suspended to Leicestershire care home as CQC takes action to protect people. Inspectors report 12 breaches of essential standards.

But look back again at all the inspection reports listed for Saffron House, Leicestershire – provided by Downing Barwell Ltd., and again, the question has to be why did it take so long for CQC to notice a failing care home?

24 February 2011: The Care Quality Commission has told Shelford Lodge Care Home that the care it provides is failing to meet essential standards of safety and quality people should be able to expect.

Yet again, look back at all the inspection reports listed for Shelford Lodge Care Home, Cambridgeshire – and ask the same question again.  One of those inspection reports stated “There is much this home needs to do to improve its service“.  And yet it took years for CQC to act decisively (if that is still possible for the CQC!).

:

What is the point of the CQC?  All comments will be most welcome, because I am at a loss to understand it any longer.

I feel as though I am now back to Square One.  So perhaps that’s where I now need to go – right back to the first square in my own experience of dementia and Care in the UK.  That may give me a chance to return to the magic number – seven!  But, I cannot promise to complete my mission within seven squares, seven posts, let alone within seven days – it will take as long as it takes.  I’ve been very patient thus far.

I do solemnly and sincerely and truly declare and affirm that the evidence I shall give shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

It will be left to anyone who chooses to challenge me to show differently.

Reflections on Mimosa Healthcare Ltd and connected matters

The CQC recently introduced a new system of monitoring the quality of care provided in residential care homes, relying more on paper-based self-assessments by the care providers, and also relying heavily on whistleblowers to alert the CQC of the need for its involvement, all with the hope that the CQC will inspect and act promptly to deal with suspected neglect or slipping standards.

26 November 2010 – This is Bristol article: The owners of Sunnymead Manor, Southmead, Bristol a ‘care’ home where vulnerable residents were left to fend for themselves in dirty and unhealthy conditions have been warned they face prosecution unless they take immediate steps to improve the situation.

Mimosa Healthcare, whose slogan is Where People Matter, has been given seven days to draw up an action plan and has agreed not to take on any more patients until a string of problems are dealt with.

Sunnymead, which specialises in looking after people with dementia and “high care needs”, has been in trouble with the authorities in the past but appeared to have cleaned up its act last year.

Mimosa has since apologised to residents and their relatives and has promised to clean up its act.

So that’s more than once that Mimosa Healthcare Ltd has promised to clean up its act.  It hasn’t managed to do so for yet in spite of new management being in situ.

CQC’s Review of Compliance – published today.

May 2006 : CSCI inspected Sunnymead Manor ‘care’ home in May 2006 (the first inspection under the ownership of Mimosa Healthcare Ltd): Cost ~£456 – £508 per week plus additional charges.  All 5 requirements (under the previous owner) were seen to have been complied with.  However, 9 statutory requirements were made, plus 5 recommendations.

The company are clearly striving to improve standards; however the significant shortfalls in two main areas must be addressed as a matter of urgency to ensure that residents get the care they need and new staff are equipped with the skills they need to meet those needs.
A number of requirements have been issued in respect of: –
• Pre-admission assessment processes
• Assessment and Care Planning processes
• Identification and meeting changing care needs
• Meeting care needs in a respectful and dignified manner
• Effective communication between staff and residents
• Induction programme for all new staff
• Staff training records be kept for all staff
• Home Manager must make application to register
• Safe working practices must be followed in respect of moving and handling of residents and in infection control procedures.

They are serious failings in care, already highlighted in 2006.

June 2007 : CSCI inspected Sunnymead Manor in June 2007:  8 statutory requirements were made, plus 4 recommendations.  Cost £471- £600 per week plus additional charges.  “…. the home must always ensure that residents do not come to any harm, and get the help they need” – so the Regulator was aware then that staff were not ensuring that residents did not come to harm, and that residents were not getting the help they needed.

“A stable staff team and improvements in the induction process for new staff and ongoing training, will benefit residents by ensuring they are looked after by staff who are better trained.”  That speaks for itself – the Regulator was aware of staff and training inadequacies resulting in sub-standard care to residents.

April 2008 : CSCI inspected Sunnymead Manor ‘care’ home in April 2008:  3 statutory requirements are made, no recommendations.  CSCI rating 2 star = “good”; Cost £498- £560 per week plus additional charges . “The care plan reviewing process is satisfactory in the nursing unit however needs to be more effective in the dementia care unit.”

November & December 2008 : CSCI inspected Sunnymead Manor ‘care’ home in November 2008 (2-star rating = good) and again in December 2008 (zero star rating = poor) after concerns were raised about the quality of care.

In November 2008 there were still 3 outstanding statutory requirements from the previous inspection; a further 4 immediate requirements following the November inspection; a further 4 statutory requirements following the November inspection; plus 1 recommendation.

In December 2008 (zero star rating = poor) there are now 5 outstanding statutory requirements; a further 18 statutory requirements from the December 2008 inspection; plus 4 recommendations.  “The Registered Person must ensure that the home is conducted so as to promote and make proper provision for the health and welfare of people who live at the home. “ When you read that  December 2008 inspection report in full, it is clear that December 2008 was the point at which CSCI should have heard enormously loud alarm bells ringing.

And yet, a mere 5 months later, all is apparently well and seen to be well by CSCI.

May 2009 : CSCI inspected Sunnymead Manor ‘care’ home on 6 May 2009; all 18 requirements and 4 recommendations were seen to have been met; following this inspection there is one statutory requirement made (concerning residents’ valuables) plus 2 recommendations (concerning the placement of non-flattering photographs of residents, and the use of the term ‘wandering’ in records giving a negative image of individuals).    CSCI rating:  two-star – “good”.  Cost: £498 – £560 per week plus additional charges.

The CQC dates are as confused and as confusing as some of CQC’s inspectors.

Step back to April 2009 and a Nurse from Sunnymead Manor – who was suspended from the care home in August 2006 – is before the NMC:  The work of Nonhlanhla Nkomo at a Bristol care home showed severe shortcomings, a hearing of the Nursing and Midwifery Council in London heard.

The 52-year-old allegedly left an elderly man at the Sunnymead Manor care home with a “hugely swollen” face by not treating a tooth infection.

She also did not know another patient was a diabetic, it was claimed. The hearing continues.

Ms Nkomo, known as Ivy, was suspended from the care home in the Southmead area of Bristol in August 2006.

Ms Nkomo, who began working at the home as a registered nurse in April 2006, is also accused of failing to record whether she had administered medication to a further eight patients.

February 2009

Kingsmead Lodge, Shirehampton, Bristol –  Mimosa Healthcare

A care worker who allegedly witnessed abuse at a Bristol care home has been suspended.

The 18-year-old is one of five care workers who have given statements about incidents at Kingsmead Lodge in Shirehampton at which are being investigated by police, social services and watchdog organisation, the Commission for Social Care Inspection.

None of the care workers allegedly involved in abuse has been suspended.

But the teenager, who looked after dementia patients at the nursing home, has been suspended on full pay after speaking out.

The care worker said she had not been given adult protection or whistle-blowing training.

And the CQC is about to rely on whistleblowers????

December 2009 : Honeymead ‘care’ home and Bishopsmead Lodge ‘care’ home – Mimosa Healthcare Ltd

New evidence of failings by a major care home provider in Bristol has been uncovered by a BBC investigation. The findings come after concerns were raised about Mimosa’s other two Bristol homes, Kingsmead Lodge and Sunnymead Manor, earlier this year.

November 2010 and Mimosa Healthcare Ltd still has the effrontery to boast on its website with the following words: Where People Matter; We know all about caring – and so do the people who live with us; Mimosa is passionate about Dignity in Care; Experience a very special place where people matter.

I beg to differ, Mimosa Healthcare Ltd.  It does not appear to me that you care enough about the standard of care in some of your care homes.

Has the time has come for the Advertising Standards Authority to find a way to regulate the misleading content of marketing messages on companies’ own websites?  The ASA does not currently have any remit over marketing messages on companies’ own websites.  Trading Standards don’t care either, nor does the CQC.

In fact the CQC inspection reports could do with regulating too.  That is where most people looking for decent care for their relative, or even for themselves, turn to first of all – the CQC website.  But it is all fudge.  We are becoming an internet-governed world.  We are being encouraged to rely on internet connections for numerous sources of information.

If the CQC really cared it would have found a way by now to put maximum pressure on care providers to provide care rather than neglect.

If our governments really cared they too would have found a way.

Mimosa Healthcare is not alone – read up on Compassion in Care’s analysis of care.  Read a few of the inspection reports that Compassion in Care has put under the microscope.

My heart goes out to every single resident of every single Mimosa Healthcare ‘care’ home.  How many of you have been neglected when you should have been cared for?  

You all deserve better care.