Old Deanery Care Home Abuse

There was of course, the usual outcry over the abuse witnessed in the Old Deanery Care Home in Essex, during the Panorama programme recently.
This is not the first such programme to highlight the issues surrounding the care of our elderly and vulnerable, and sadly, I doubt that it will be the last.
Despite the sacking of seven staff so far, this is unlikely to get to the root of the problem, which appears to be endemic across much of the care sector.
In an interview shortly after the airing of the programme the owner seemed to want to blame lack of government funding, at which point I was only glad that I was not on the scene at the time, as it might well have prompted me to violence. He asserted that such low levels of funding did not allow him to employ the calibre of staff he needed, which is not the whole picture at all.
There are a number of issues at stake. One is that ruthless care home owners, who let's face it, are only in it for the money, will employ the cheapest labour they can find, which will mean that they end up with staff who will often be poorly trained, uneducated, and in many cases only entering into the care sector for .... the money, because they are unable to find work elsewhere. We have also set too much store by meaningless checks, and a focus on targets. I have on a number of occasions contacted CQC where I have been alerted to issues in care homes and am afraid I have little or no time for them, and certainly no faith in their inspection system, which largely focuses on record keeping and procedures; a tick box system of a list of requirements, not all of which are inspected at the time. So much for the 'clean bill of health' issued at their last inspection of this care home, just six months ago.
We have also seen relatives of those in the care home interviewed, expressing some concern or worry over what they may have observed on visits, and the police will no doubt be entering into an expensive and lengthy investigation, looking for someone to blame.
Unfortunately old people consigned to care homes are often not the easiest to care for, and in many cases this is one reason why their families, if they have any, have put them there. To look after someone who requires constant attention, who may be confused and at times violent, requires the patience of a saint; something that few of us have in the quantities required. I can readily recall two friends who did nurse their loved ones until their death, and it must have been torture for them; where they had to put their own lives, and that of the rest of their family, on hold for sometime.
Until we can find a way in which, as we get older, the appropriate support is provided for relatives and carers to care properly for this sector of society we will, unfortunately, continue to hear the same stories time and time again. Whereas in the past we all benefitted from close family units the disparate nature of our society means that the issue will only escalate.
It is however not just about the money, it is more about attitude, and that is something you cannot buy. The sad thing is that we must be careful not to tar everyone with the same brush; there are many within the care sector who do a fabulous job for little or no reward and who are often overlooked in the wake of stories like this.