There have been a number of high profile cases highlighting poor care within nursing homes, residential homes and with domiciliary care providers. A local authority (Wirral Borough Council) has changed its leadership directly as a result of a ‘whistle blowing’ issues over social care provision.
Even this week, it has been widely reported in the media that the manager and deputy manager of Speke Care Home in Liverpool stole the life savings of vulnerable residents, some of whom had dementia. These are difficult situations to think and write about, whether it is verbal, physical or even financial, abuse should not be tolerated within the social care sector.
One has to wonder, how these situations occurred and more importantly, why they continued undiscovered for considerable periods of time.
With the Wirral Borough Council case, an employee highlighted the issues early on, however, it has been reported that the employee who raised concerns lost his job as a direct result of his ‘whistle blowing’. The issues of poor care and abuse in other domiciliary or residential settings, raises many questions, the most important being, how did this happen?
We can assume staffing levels may be a factor, where staff simply do not have the time to realise what is happening, or is it an issue of staff not being aware, because they do not know what should be happening? With the current economic change, many organisations are feeling ‘the pinch’ with budgets. When considering what necessary expenditure is required, too often we see that the training budget is cut or simply disappears.
It’s an easy target for finance directors and training is often seen only as a luxury.
One must therefore ask a question, is it a luxury or a necessity?
If a company cuts a sales team due to poor sales, initially it will appear as a quick fix, however, when the company tries to increase revenue and push for sales in the future, they struggle as they do not have the personnel required.
We can use a similar analogy with training, yes cut the training budget and initially save the organisation money. However, when the staff are not trained to high standards in the delivery of care, good practice and awareness of many conditions, then the organisation cannot provide the service required and will be unable to compete with other organisations in the tendering process.
Provision of care training improves confidence and competence in staff, highlights the employer's or service provider’s commitment and most importantly, ensures that clients receive high quality care, which is monitored, observed and significantly reduces the risk of poor delivery and abuse.
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