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Back in March, I told you about the Care Home my 104 year-old mother (who has Alzheimer's and cancer) has the misfortune to reside in. The place is owned by a company called Enhance and currently goes under the name of Meadowbrook. Unfortunately, my mother can barely walk and has trouble when she visits the toilet, sometimes leaving the seat covered in excrement. The manageress seems to think that checking the cleanliness of the toilet every four or five hours (if they actually do) is sufficient, even though it's the work of seconds to open the door of her en suite facilities and check the condition of the seat.
Sometimes when I visit, the seat is filthy and even when I alert staff and they 'clean' it, it is still left in an unsatisfactory condition, sometimes until my next visit. I always take photographs and it's obvious when photos between visits are compared, the excrement is the same from last time. Anyway, let's cut to the chase. Take a look at the above photo from some months back - would you say this is an acceptable standard of cleanliness? Also, bear in mind that if the seat is dirty, the excrement is more than likely to be on my mother's skin as well, but management and staff don't appear to be unduly concerned with the situation.
Below are two photos from my Saturday visit. My mother obviously had another 'accident' (at some stage through the week) and though the seat has been wiped, it's still dirty. Don't know about you, but I think my mother deserves better. Anyone with media connections reading this? Or if you know someone connected to the media, perhaps you'd be so good as to direct them to this post. I'll be contacting the media anyway as this place deserves to be named-and-shamed on a wider level, but any shortcuts will be most welcome. As will your comments.
12 comments:
F#$^%&@, Atrocious! (Bless your poor Mother!)(And a Plague on them!)
It's a wonder everyone in the place isn't suffering from a plague, AAW, given the poor standards of cleanliness.
All these modern 'BS' promotional promises and ethical jabberings, amount to "Give us your money!", "we don't care!" And stains on a toilet seat...what a disgrace of a place. I hope you get some justice for her?
I'll certainly try, AAW, but at 104, time is against her. I've tried to get her moved to another place, but you'd never believe the uphill battle it is to do so. And there's no guarantee another place will be any better.
There is nothing to say on this other than it is totally disgraceful. This must be so upsetting for you and your mum. Sadly it's not uncommon.
Perhaps fortunately, McS, my mother is largely unaware of what is going on around her and the state of the toilet seat after she has visited the loo. She is supposed to be assisted, but IF she is, whoever is 'assisting' her is not very observant when it comes to the inadequate way in which they 'clean-up' after my mother.
A horrible situation and I do feel for you. Do make sure you've gone through the necessary steps, as failure to do so will count against you, unfortunately. You've spoken to the manageress - have you put that in writing to her, copying in Enhance? Demand a response and plan of action within 48 hours, and say that if you don't get it, you will be informing the Care Quality Commission. The CQC don't investigate individual complaints but it does get taken into account when they award their ratings. Also say that you will be escalating it to the local paper, which is more likely to publicise the case than a national.
There's simply no excuse for this your mum deserves her dignity. Look after yourself I know how stressful this can be.
I contacted the local paper a few years ago and they ran a story. However, the Home, which was under other owners at that time, didn't respond. I've spoken to the manageress and sent her numerous emails, and even had face-to-face meetings, but all I get are broken promises. My blog has received over 668,000 visits this month, which is why I'm publicising their failings here.
Extremely stressful and it's wearing me down, McS. As my own health isn't great these days (and deteriorating) it's something I could do without. Unfortunately, the Home seems incapable of improving as they seem to employ fecking idiots.
We were fortunate with my mother in law in that there was a great facility about ten miles from us. We kept her with us until my wife was diagnosed with cancer. We moved her in the facility about three months before Covid. They took very good care of her while she was there, but they were confined to their rooms for a long time and her physical state deteriorated to the point she was bedridden. She passed away in 2023.
When we were able to go in and see her, the place was kept very clean and she was taken care of. However, I know there are other places that aren’t that well kept. I’m sorry you are having to deal with this. It’s not fair to you or your mother.
My mother is bedridden at the moment as she had a fall in her room around a fortnight ago and was taken to hospital, though was only in overnight. I imagine that other residents in the home who are compos mentis are probably looked after better as far as standards of cleanliness are concerned as they can speak for themselves if anything's wrong, but my mother is often in her own wee world. Sorry to hear about your own problems, G.
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