Okay, let's return to the many deficiences of Whitehills/Meadowbrook Care Home, part of the Enhance Healthcare group. My mother, who resides in the place, is extremely deaf and requires two hearing aids. The batteries are supposed to last for at least five days, but such is the state of my mother's inability to hear, after around two or three days, even when there's still some power in the batteries, it's simply not enough to enable her to hear properly. She may be able to faintly hear 'sounds', but not distinguish precisely what's being said to her.
They're always telling me they check the batteries every few hours, but here's the thing. When they record their tick-list of assigned tasks, it's not done at the time, but hours later. That means they can record doing what they ought to have done, without ever actually having done it. (Much like they claim to clean the rooms every day, yet I have time-and-date stamped photographic evidence proving the floor hasn't been cleaned in a week, or the toilet seat in three days.) So the records suggest everything's been done properly, even when it hasn't. As long as the paperwork looks okay, that's all they're interested in.
For example, I'll visit my mother and ask whether she can hear me or not and she doesn't even realise I'm speaking to her if she's got an eye on the TV. (She reads the subtitles.) I'll tell a staff member my mother can't hear me and get the reply "That's funny - she could hear me ten minutes ago when I asked if she wanted a cup of tea." I'll say "Speak to her now then" and the staff's words fall literally on deaf ears. "I can't hear what you're saying" my mother will say, "I can't hear what you're saying." I suspect my mother sometimes guesses or lipreads what's being said (she'll be asked if she wants a cuppa at approximately the same time every day), and when she gives any kind of response to someone speaking, they simply assume she can hear them.
What's ridiculous is some staff will stand right next to her with their lips pressed right against her ear and speak in a loud voice. If they get any kind of response, they say to me "See, she can hear me!", as though I'm expected to spend an hour with my lips glued to my mother's ear in order to chat with her. I have video evidence of my mother being totally deaf to my attempts at conversing with her (and I don't have a soft voice), which once I remind myself of how to do it, I'll upload onto the blog. I also have one where she could hear me right away, and just to be fair, I'll upload that one as well. This was after I'd been complaining for some time, so they must've changed the batteries not long before I arrived that night. If only they'd do so all the time.
Sometimes I'll be told fresh batteries were fitted earlier in the day, but when I check, one hearing aid might have no battery at all, while the other battery is the wrong size. It'll be the correct circumference, but too narrow to make proper contact. I kid you not, this is a regular occurrence. I'll then email the manageress, who'll claim the records show the batteries were checked or replaced at such-and-such a time during the day, as if that settles the matter. So why couldn't my mother hear me then, or the member of staff? It's just too much of a coincidence to suggest the batteries always die just 10 or 15 minutes before I arrive on my visit.
No, what records prove are some staff must be lying about having checked or replaced the batteries when they haven't, or not put in the right ones, or not pressed the reset switch - or not waited 60 seconds after having removed the orange sticker as per the battery instructions. Sometimes the orange stickers haven't even been removed from the batteries beforehand, and this is people who are supposed to know what they're doing but clearly don't have a scooby.
'Care' should be more than just giving residents tea and toast, it should also be about ensuring they're equipped to face the day and be able to communicate with those aound them instead of being isolated in silence, which happens often. Why? Because most of the staff just don't care! It's my firm conviction my mother should be enabled to hear at all times, but Meadowbrook seem to think otherwise and consider me a pain in the @rse because I expect - nay, demand - she's looked after properly. Wouldn't you if it were your mother?
More horror stories to come. Comments welcome. And for those unaware of prior posts, links to them are presented below...
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