Jayne Dowle: Profits come before people in care nightmare

It sounds like a nightmare, doesn’t it? But for thousands of elderly people in England, this nightmare is a living reality.

An interim report from the Equality and Human Rights Commission has discovered the shocking truth about the way that over-65s are looked after in their own homes by carers. And the full report, due in November, is not even out yet.

What is clear already is that in so many cases, the home-care system has little respect for those it purports to care for.

Anybody who has had to find a carer for an elderly relative will tell you that it is bad enough already, what with the public spending cuts and the general bureaucracy that overshadows any attempt to secure the help which allows an individual to carry on living independently rather than go into a home.

Even broaching the subject causes heartache. There is still so much guilt attached to the notion of “having a carer” from those who can’t manage for themselves, and from their families and spouses who, for one reason or another, can’t care for their loved one 24/7. And I think it is this misplaced guilt which prevents people from standing up for themselves and acknowledging that they deserve better.

One in five of the elderly people interviewed by the Commission said they hadn’t complained about poor treatment because they didn’t know how to, or feared the repercussions. And this is in a society which encourages chancers to sue their local council if they so much as trip over a paving stone in the shopping precinct and twist their ankle.

Like the devoted couple in their 80s who I know. They hate to be a burden on anyone, and are determined to live together in their own home for as long as possible. They hate to make a fuss, feel like they are enough of a bother already.

Carers come several times a day, to wash the gentleman, help him with toileting, and put him to bed. Without their support, he would be in a residential home permanently.

But imagine how it feels to be him, a man who fought for his country in the Second World War, worked all his life, raised a family and enjoyed a healthy retirement, until now, knowing that he is dependent totally on others for even his basic needs?

Sometimes, the carer doesn’t turn up until after 10am. And there he is, helpless in bed. He can’t get up. His wife can’t get him up – his legs don’t work any more.

The stress of living like this, every day, well, could you cope with it? But talk to him about it, and the last thing he will ever do is blame the carers.

Whatever their own troubles, they are – almost unfailingly – gentle and respectful with him. But sometimes they are in a terrific hurry, pressurised by their bosses to fit in as many visits as possible, running around from client to client, constantly clocking the time.

He is lucky that he has his wife there to cook his meals and sit with him to eat. Because it’s not much fun having your lunch at 11am, and having to wait until 7pm for your tea.

And it can’t be much fun being a carer, if you know that even with the best will in the world, you can’t look after the people in your care effectively.

The men and women who work for care agencies will no doubt be castigated for failing to do their jobs. There will be some who are neglectful, but I know enough women who do this for a living, day in, day out, to recognise that, in many cases, they are trying to do their best with one hand tied behind their back.

If this investigation is to make any impact at all, these workers must be allowed to speak freely, and without fear of losing their jobs. And the care agencies they work for have got to be held to account.

It is their bosses who draw up the schedules and the checklists that create shift patterns and rotas that transfer into the difference between a hot meal or a cling-filmed sandwich on a plate, a bath or a strip-wash, clean sheets or a quick mop around the bathroom. Profits and the bottom line are clearly coming before people.

One elderly client the Commission spoke to was seen by 32 different carers over a two-week period. How stressful must that have been, how embarrassing to have to strip in front of a parade of strangers?

For too long, the failings of home care have been hidden. It is time for them not only to be exposed, but discussed in the open, without guilt, or shame, or excuses, and to be acted on.