Elderly care crisis as complaints soar to 160 every day
MORE than 160 complaints a day about the care of elderly and vul - nerable adults are being lodged with the watchdog, figures reveal.
Inspectors at the Care Quality Commission are also turning up at nursing homes to find residents crying out in distress, ignored by staff.
Yesterday the chief inspector of social care at the CQC warned that increasing pressure on cash- strapped services was turning ‘good people into bad carers’.
Andrea Sutcliffe said that some employees ‘end up being the sort of worker that you wouldn’t want them to be’.
Councils across England are having to slash their budgets for social care, which includes nursing homes and home help, just when demand is growing as the population ages.
Figures from the CQC released under the Freedom of Information Act reveal that the number of complaints concerning social care doubled between 2011 and 2015.
A total of 30,222 were lodged in the first six months of this year – the equivalent of 166 a day – and the majority involved care homes for the elderly . This compares to 30,911 for the entire 12 months of 2011. Officials said the rise was partly down to increased public awareness following high-profile reports of abuse in homes.
Meanwhile harrowing reports from inspectors at the CQC reveal that some elderly residents are being left in their beds in care homes for hours after waking up.
One published last week into the Birds-grove Nursing Home, near Bracknell in Berkshire, reads: ‘W e spoke with a person who was still in bed in night clothes. It was midmorning and they told the inspec - tor they had been awake since 7am and were waiting for staff to help move them to their chair , wash them and help them get dressed.
‘We left the room and shortly afterwards heard them shouting for help. The person was in very obvious distress and their shouts for help were loud enough for any staff nearby to hear them. No staff responded to the calls for help.’
Mrs Sutcliffe, who became chief inspector of adult social care in 2013, said that much good work was being done in the system ‘despite the cuts’. But in an inter - view with The Observer , she said staff were increasingly feeling undervalued and demoralised.
‘That potentially means that they may leave, but it also may mean that they end up being the sort of care worker that you wouldn’t want them to be because the system isn’t supportive,’ she added.
‘The social care sector is certainly under stress and strain. And it is a combination of all sorts of factors – the increased number of people who need support, the increased complexity of their needs.’ The Daily Mail has long called for an improvement to the care of older people as part of our Dignity for the Elderly campaign.
A Department of Health spokes - man said: ‘ Abuse and neglect are completely unacceptable, and whatever the cause we are deter - mined to stamp them out.
‘We need to understand what lies behind these figures – an increase in awareness and reporting of abuse is to be welcomed so that proper action can be taken.’