If you need urgent support, call 999 or go to your nearest A&E. To contact our Crisis Messenger (open 24/7) text THEMIX to 85258.
Options
Wistle blowing and res care
BillieTheBot
Posts: 8,721 Bot
in General Chat
I work in an old peoples home and have done for almost 3 years now. I've done all my training food hygine, health and safety, medication, manual handleing etc...
Thing is ever since we got new owners things have gone so far down hill it makes me sick. They are so stingy is could cost the residents their lives. I'll break it down into lil chucks to make this thread easier to take in.
Problem one - Gloves: When I did my health and safety course they said that whenever you do personal care you should always wear clean gloves. Personal care to me means, changing, bathing, wipeing bottoms, brushing teeth and all that sort of thing. I also belive that it is essential that you wear goves when you change the bed sheets (in case of dried urine, feases, sweat general body fluids), but the managers said we shouldnt and we should just wash our hands before we leave the room. This would only just be ok if he would invest in some anti bac liquid soap in each room. But he wont. He also said that we dont need gloves on when doing the laundry but I know for a fact that we do. I mean, if the clothes are soild then it dosnt matter if their on the person or not, we should be protecting ourselves against any possible infections these old people may have!
Now he's buying really cheap gloves, like the type you use for dying your hair, they are so shit and break at the first chance they get.
Problem two - Flannels: This is another infection control type problem. We have been told that we are no longer aloud to use flannels on bums. Why? becuase the manager says is unhyginic. Normally I would say fair enough I can understand that, since they get used on faces too (tho not untill they've been boil washed to kill any germs) When I give a bath I will always take two flannals with me, one for the face and one for the under bits. He's now bought loads of sponges and says that they are for bums. But sponges cant be boil washed!! All we can do with them is rinse them, soap them up and hope that it kills all the germs. To me this idea is disgusting. He wont buy baby wipes or any type of wet wipe because he says that if he did he would go bankrupt! I've never heard so much bullshit in my life! Baby wipes do not cost that much and is better to be a couple of quid down per month than having dead/ill residents because of all the germs in the place!
Problem three - Food: When I did my food hygine course they said that is food isnt refridgerated it can only stay edable for old people for around and hour. If out longer than that it has to be heated at a really high temp for something like 3/4 minutes. Again with the stingyness my manager is making the evening staff make the sandwishes with teh leftover meat from lunch. which hasnt been kept in the fridge nore has it been heated up. There isnt much I can do to ignore this rule since I arrive after dinner is made. I can ignore the glove and flannel "rules" and tell him off if he pulls me up on it but this one I have no power of untill after dinner where I can throw away any leftovers before he comes into the kitchen to be annoying. Its not fair that these people are being fed such shit, they are paying £465 - £510 for a Single room or £400 - £450 for a Shared room. How they can then try and say that they wont have enough money to let them have at least freah food is beyond me!
Promlem four - Problem sleepers: I do three nights a week over night as a sleeper. This means I go in and just sleep and get woken up by the night staff if I am needed. The problem with this is that there is one resident that screams blue murder about being left on her own. This wasnt such a problem when her bedroom was at the other end of the house, but now they've moved her (without telling her family I might add) and she's in the room next to mine and we share a wall:( I find it hard enough to sleep there cos the bed is like a rock but now I have to try and ignore her too! The manager said to someone else to just put cotten wool in your ears, but surely if you use enough to block out that sound your using enough to not hear the night worker try and wake you up in an emergency (not to mention your alarm clock)
Problem five - Heating: They have siad that we mustnt touch the heating dial ever. But the heating turns off at 10 and dosnt come back on till 7. They dont have double glazing so within a couple of hours the house is like ice. When I sleep there, I wear a warm tracsuit como thingy, another jumper ontop of that wolly socks and a hat. Plus I use two quilts, and I'm still cold. I know I get cold easy but surly I cant be that bad if i'm ok in my own home with only one jumper and one quilt. If I'm cold the residents must be freezing. I know this isnt good for them cos they could get ill and stuff. When I get to work for my sleeper shift I have started going right to the heat dial and turning it back on then turning it back off again when I leave. I wish I didnt have to do this, cos it feels dishonest but its better then waking up to find a dead old person.
I want to grass them up but I have to get another job first cos it would be so obvious that it was me since I aways go on about following the safey laws and stuff.
But untill I do I dont know what I should do. All but one of these problems could cost lives (although it hasnt yet thank god)
Thing is ever since we got new owners things have gone so far down hill it makes me sick. They are so stingy is could cost the residents their lives. I'll break it down into lil chucks to make this thread easier to take in.
Problem one - Gloves: When I did my health and safety course they said that whenever you do personal care you should always wear clean gloves. Personal care to me means, changing, bathing, wipeing bottoms, brushing teeth and all that sort of thing. I also belive that it is essential that you wear goves when you change the bed sheets (in case of dried urine, feases, sweat general body fluids), but the managers said we shouldnt and we should just wash our hands before we leave the room. This would only just be ok if he would invest in some anti bac liquid soap in each room. But he wont. He also said that we dont need gloves on when doing the laundry but I know for a fact that we do. I mean, if the clothes are soild then it dosnt matter if their on the person or not, we should be protecting ourselves against any possible infections these old people may have!
Now he's buying really cheap gloves, like the type you use for dying your hair, they are so shit and break at the first chance they get.
Problem two - Flannels: This is another infection control type problem. We have been told that we are no longer aloud to use flannels on bums. Why? becuase the manager says is unhyginic. Normally I would say fair enough I can understand that, since they get used on faces too (tho not untill they've been boil washed to kill any germs) When I give a bath I will always take two flannals with me, one for the face and one for the under bits. He's now bought loads of sponges and says that they are for bums. But sponges cant be boil washed!! All we can do with them is rinse them, soap them up and hope that it kills all the germs. To me this idea is disgusting. He wont buy baby wipes or any type of wet wipe because he says that if he did he would go bankrupt! I've never heard so much bullshit in my life! Baby wipes do not cost that much and is better to be a couple of quid down per month than having dead/ill residents because of all the germs in the place!
Problem three - Food: When I did my food hygine course they said that is food isnt refridgerated it can only stay edable for old people for around and hour. If out longer than that it has to be heated at a really high temp for something like 3/4 minutes. Again with the stingyness my manager is making the evening staff make the sandwishes with teh leftover meat from lunch. which hasnt been kept in the fridge nore has it been heated up. There isnt much I can do to ignore this rule since I arrive after dinner is made. I can ignore the glove and flannel "rules" and tell him off if he pulls me up on it but this one I have no power of untill after dinner where I can throw away any leftovers before he comes into the kitchen to be annoying. Its not fair that these people are being fed such shit, they are paying £465 - £510 for a Single room or £400 - £450 for a Shared room. How they can then try and say that they wont have enough money to let them have at least freah food is beyond me!
Promlem four - Problem sleepers: I do three nights a week over night as a sleeper. This means I go in and just sleep and get woken up by the night staff if I am needed. The problem with this is that there is one resident that screams blue murder about being left on her own. This wasnt such a problem when her bedroom was at the other end of the house, but now they've moved her (without telling her family I might add) and she's in the room next to mine and we share a wall:( I find it hard enough to sleep there cos the bed is like a rock but now I have to try and ignore her too! The manager said to someone else to just put cotten wool in your ears, but surely if you use enough to block out that sound your using enough to not hear the night worker try and wake you up in an emergency (not to mention your alarm clock)
Problem five - Heating: They have siad that we mustnt touch the heating dial ever. But the heating turns off at 10 and dosnt come back on till 7. They dont have double glazing so within a couple of hours the house is like ice. When I sleep there, I wear a warm tracsuit como thingy, another jumper ontop of that wolly socks and a hat. Plus I use two quilts, and I'm still cold. I know I get cold easy but surly I cant be that bad if i'm ok in my own home with only one jumper and one quilt. If I'm cold the residents must be freezing. I know this isnt good for them cos they could get ill and stuff. When I get to work for my sleeper shift I have started going right to the heat dial and turning it back on then turning it back off again when I leave. I wish I didnt have to do this, cos it feels dishonest but its better then waking up to find a dead old person.
I want to grass them up but I have to get another job first cos it would be so obvious that it was me since I aways go on about following the safey laws and stuff.
But untill I do I dont know what I should do. All but one of these problems could cost lives (although it hasnt yet thank god)
Beep boop. I'm a bot.
0
Comments
All I can think of currently.;/
i know its all about the old people, but i still cant stop having sympathy for zella, not only because of the possibility she might lose her job, but also at the awkward position she is most likely in every day of her life that she continues to work there
And, if he points the finger at you, whats the worst he could do?? I mean, if he sacks you, or makes your working live bad, id definately report him for all the laws he's breaking+dismissing you unfairly (if he does this!)
http://www.csci.org.uk/
Tight fucker.
That sponge thing is sick. Using a sponge on a bum is wrong.
You really do need to contact these people because the stuff your talking about is appauling, outside of your own health and safety your talking about people who are reaching the end of their lives and they deserve to have at least some quality of life.
Alternatively you could ring social services and share your concerns either way you can do it anonimously.
You should contact your local authority, or if you want to be sure something is done, tip off a paper because that will obviously force something to be done. You can do that anonymously as well.
It sounds like anm awful place to be and feel very relieved that you are going to do something about it!!
you should definitly report them, we have a number on the staff board at work that we can ring confidentially if we want to report anything and someone from social services and head office will be sent done to check it out.
if you're going to leave anyway, report them, its so disgusting the things some people are allowed to get away with just because they are in a position of 'power'!