Care home staff deserve more credit for hard job

“There is a pernicious myth that, somehow, intelligence services are moral equivalents. That the end justifies the means, whatever the cost. Much of the fictional portrayal of us is wrong” IN response to your article about Ash Meadows residential home in Cleckheaton on November 21, I would like to make a few comments of my own.

I have been visiting a friend there for the last 14 years and so have spent many hours at the home. One has to remember that there isn’t such a thing as perfection, although we all aim for it. I have never noticed a foul smell and have only seen caring staff being very patient with residents who from no fault of their own were in need of quite a bit of care.

Several of the staff have been there all the time I have been visiting, so I have come to know them quite well. They do their job with great professionalism.

What is the manager supposed to do if staff ring in sick? In my eyes a good manager would do what the one at Ash Meadows and her staff do, stay at work and get the job done.

I have seen residents who can’t feed themselves being fed, which is more than you can say for many elderly in their own homes. Surely, if homes like Ash Meadows are closed down because of a few discrepancies fly-tipping over dog excrement at Digley (Examiner, December 9) and presumably other beauty spots.

I have re-read my letter on the subject of fly-tipping at Digley car park and I can’t seem to find any reference to me being in favour of dog fouling or condoning it in any way. I am opposed to all of the mess left around Digley by so-called ‘nature lovers.’

This includes plastic bottles, aluminium cans, beer bottles and pizza trays etc. I have also seen discarded disposable nappies and the frame of a motor scooter (presumably stolen).

Dog fouling is a problem and the people who collect it in plastic bags and then dispose of the bags on the path deserve special mention.

However, fly-tipping is in a