Managers Beware of Evil Staff

Try as you might, there is evil in care homes that goes far beyond physical abuse.

I have always made sure that I have been scrupulously fair with staff and have always tried to assist staff and watched their backs, but there is always one who cannot see the good you have done,  and is arrogant enough to  think  that they can get you back,by being the homes unofficial lawyer.

I have one such member of staff who has been extremely conservative with the truth. I know why she has done it, the owner knows why she has done it,  and the irony is that she is lucky to still be employed at the home due to many of the complaints from  seniors and from some other staff about her attitude, but me being me felt I could work with her and teach her.

The owner has always been kept aware of what is happening in the home and the staff and he has on at least one occasion asked me why she was still there, but I wanted to teach her and get her to see how things could be done.

Now I am  left with only 6.5 years left before I  can retire and this 19 year old has decided to make sure I cannot work again. She has worked,  I believe,  in collusion with other staff to make a mistake she and another member of staff made, where I had to pick up the pieces,  into a complaint about my handling of the situation. Yes I was sharp with the resident, but a tough love, type of sharp  where I was trying to motivate her back to her room. Had a wheelchair been used in the instance that she couldn't walk even 15 feet across the dining room, then this incident wouldn't have happened, but she nor the other staff involved have been honest about their involvement, instead choosing to lay all blame on me.

There was no physical abuse, no  verbal abuse, no swearing only a firm sharp  tone to  try and keep this resident on her feet to hopefully get her to her room without incident. I know hand on heart that I have done nothing wrong, but I  feel  I have been set up, and I  get the impression so does my employer.  All my good work over the past 42 years or so is now  under the microscope and I feel gutted.

If I loose my  job I have requested that the owner employ the toughest manager he can find to knock this home back into shape as if not things could go  from  bad to worse.  This member of staff has now had power that she is unready and unable to deal with and this makes her very dangerous in any care environment, she could  destroy everything that has been built  up over the past 2.5 years just for some personal self gratification, not for as she would  have everyone believe because she was concerned or because she thought she was working in the best interest of a resident. After all this is a girl who had no compunction of coming into my office and telling me that she was the best carer at my care home, as I  said arrogant.

Shameful CQC

On 14th April 2011 my care home had an unannounced inspection. Very little could be found wrong with the service and I had only been in post for five months and had initiated a vast amount of change, which is still ongoing. I was given a Statutory letter because I had used staff I had interviewed and accepted into  the home before  their CRB had come through,but I had explained that I was working  in  the best interest of the residents as I had been using agency staff and I had asked two of them to leave before the end of their shift due to bad practise,one had washed a lady over 103 yrs with rolled up  gloves!!!!!

I used my 40 years experience to make a well considered and well  thought through choice to use staff I thought were far more suitable and I had interviewed over those of poorly trained agency staff and got rapped over the knuckles for,in my opinion, making the right decision and protecting my elderly vulnerable residents from poor practise.

Yesterday I visited the CQC website as I was downloading more of the Compliance Tools, a  vast amount of extra paperwork that care homes have to fill in,and I decided to check on  the status of my  home. I was shocked to find that CQC had my home listed as not yet having been inspected,and I still  haven't received the inspection report from  the inspection on 14th April  2011.

Who polices the CQC? Why are blatant errors that can effect a home be allowed. I made an informed choice to protect my residents and was given a Statutory Notice,but it appears CQC can make worse errors and get away with things scott free. Believe me I have made a ruckus about this, even writing to  David Cameron who quickly passed the buck so that my letter in its entirety was passed onto CQC,including my name!!!!

I received a condescending letter back, but still no report, and now their website seems to deny we have even been inspected. To say I am  furious at their lack of internal quality control,  lack of  morals would be an understatement. What makes this story even worse, was that not long after the inspection,another inspector turned up at the home.  She started to go  through our files, then looked very sheepish and had to call head office. She had been sent to the wrong home!!!! She also promised when leaving that she would make sure our inspection report would  be sent as soon as possible as she had viewed it before visiting the home.

Cynthia Bowers has now resigned and not a moment too soon, but CQC is a Quango,paid for by the tax payers to police homes,  NHS etc,  but can't even  put their own house in order first. Will I get an apology? I will  not hold my breath,  what I  do expect is another inspection as I have been a naughty boy to complain.  I have no trust or faith in  CQC and until  they get someone in charge who will  keep things simple and keep on top of things in  their own  house, they have no right, in my book,  to  judge others.