You Would Think?

I now work for a charity, (I can't give out the name to protect myself), but you would think that this charity that has more than a reasonable amount of resources behind it would at least try and get things right, well WRONG.

When I took over the care home I now manage, I have found:

1. Breach of Employment regulations, some staff still not having a contract after being employed for two years, I have told head office at least twice, and nothing has happened.

2. Breach of Fire regulations, I found 7 doors being propped open by wedges, and on questioning the handyman this had been going on for at least the last two years, talking to the person who carried out the Fire Risk Assessment these had been 'hidden' when he carried out the assessment.

3. Breach of Health and Safety, now I'm not a fan of health and safety as it often gets interpreted by idiots who really don't know what they are talking about, but in this instance I'm talking about having sufficient well placed 1st Aid boxes to cover the home, it had one small box which was kept in the duty room miles from anywhere.

4. Breach of the National Minimum Care Standards, no supervisions on a regular basis, no annual appraisals, no proper care reviews, false waterlow assessments, lack of staff, lack of training, use of bleach, and the list goes on.

5. Lack of cohesive and well maintained Policies and Procedures, I pointed this out to one of the temporary line managers and her words were, 'put them back they are better than nothing'. I was gobsmacked, what I wanted to hear was , we need to deal with this as a matter of urgency.

The Chief Executive is, I think hiding his head in the sand, I emailed him to tell him that one of the temporary senior managers didn't have, in my opinion, enough experience or skills to hold the position she did, this is the one who told me to put the policies back!, her management style does not fit into any of the 5 recognised styles e.g. Autocratic, Democratic, Consultative, Paternalistic or Laissez Faire, and can only be described as aggressive bull in a china shop type style. I was told that I didn't have the right to make this opinion or share it with him.

I think that if something goes drastically wrong the Chief Executive is one of those who will go around saying 'why didn't someone tell me?' the reason is simple if he gives the same response as the one I got when I was trying to alert him that he is leaving the charity open to possible grievence procedure due to the way this manager talks and treats people, then there is no way anyone is going to share any concerns with him, I certainly shall not.

I have decided to look for another position and also when I go for my registration interview alert CSCI of what I have found and had to put right, it may well mean loss of position, but at least the residents of this home will be safer and hopefully a warning shot will be sent across the bows of this Chief Executive and the charity to get their act together.

One good thing, this poor manager has pushed me into making the right decision about leaving and this experience has also made me write a Practical Management Training Course, which will be followed by a Training Course on Key Working