YOUR SHOUT

Another huge reaction to the state of care in the UK, so thank you. This message sums up where it all started to go wrong. Funnily enough, it was following local authority budget cuts after the Tories came to power:

Fiona, I retired in 2014 following 22 years working in a council care home. I was head cook and housekeeper.

All through that time we were under threat of being sold off to private companies. The council was non-profit making and we had a generous budget for food. Carers were paid a decent wage and night staff received enhancements. Carers would come in on their day off to help with cooking and cleaning if needed.

It was spotlessly clean. Everybody was diligent and provided the most wonderful care.

In 2011 the private sector took over. Profit was the main consideration. When I reached my monthly food budget, maybe with three days left in the month, I was told not to order more.

Staff were offered redundancy, while pay and standards went down.

I visited our old residents two months after they moved and was reduced to tears. One man who loved to socialise was in a tiny room away from all the hustle and bustle.

If they’d kept the old homes and ran them effectively there would be no need to sell them off.

I hope to God I don’t get so old I can’t look after myself. I would rather die than go into one of these homes. Eve via e-mail Fiona, I thought I would show you a picture of the meal my 83-year-old auntie was served in her ‘care’ home in Yorkshire. The home is rated ‘excellent’ for its meals... the mind boggles. I was there in person and could barely decipher what was on the plate. The thin, dry, curled fodder is apparently chicken! And not a vegetable in sight. Lynda Denton via e-mail