Montfield Hospital

[unlinkedstudent]

there has to be a specialist service for dementia. early stage dementia can be delt with at home however the latter stages are not pleasant. expecting their family to do most of the caring places a massive burden on them. it maybe best for the suffer to be at home but it maybe not be the best for the ,main carer.

 

a council that has 100s of millions in funds should not be even think of cutting this type of service, they need to forget all the nicer things like new arts venues and concentrate on there main functions.

 

if the council can't run a decent service allow the care to be hired in. if there is a real need for new buildings build them it will save money in the end.

 

providing care at home can never meet the needs of an end stage patient. rember the maximum number of viits is 4. would you want your amily member let for so long. it will be not a cheaper option ethier.

 

I'm not referring to the carers provided at present by the SIC but by private agencies as elsewhere in the UK. Country Cousins, for example, provide not only trained carers but when I enquired about their services, could also provide trained nurses. Some people pay for their care and others get it funded via the NHS under continuing care (or has that gone too?). For care in the home, many say pay a Local Authority, for example, £12 per hour yet the same Local Authority sub-contracts out to an agency; you can go direct to the agency and get the same carer for say £10 per hour.

 

I wasn't saying that family members should necessarily provide the support but for those paying for care, there are organisations in the private sector who do provide staff who live in.

 

Incidentally, are there any private care and/or nursing homes in Shetland?

[paulb]

no. the nearest to one is the walter and joan centre in scalloway that is run by a private company. all the other services you mention are not available. you really need to be involved in the care service to see how streached it is.

what sheltland really needs is a small hospice too many folks die in the hospital which really is not the best place to die. end of life care needs a good looking at.

[MuckleJoannie]

The Walter and Joan Gray home is run by a non profit organisation, part of the Church of Scotland.

 

http://www.crossreach.org.uk/node/155

[Guest posiedon]

^

Our Christian Ethos

 

Our Christian Ethos Statement is at the heart of our organisation making a positive difference to the work we do:

 

Our motivation is rooted in our relationship with and faith in Jesus Christ. As recipients of His unconditional love and grace we desire to serve others in His name. His example is our model for all that we are and do. We strive to reflect Him as an organisation, in the services we offer and in our relationships with each other.

This is our operational Ethos statement.

 

For some of our posts employees are required to have a Christian commitment and uphold our Christian Ethos.This is a Genuine Occupational Requirement in terms of the Employment Equality (Religion and Belief) Regulations 2003.

 

For other posts within CrossReach employees should be in sympathy and supportive of our Christian Ethos.

 

They discriminate in their employment policy.

Some time ago they advertised for a groundsman/labourer, or some such and included in the ad was.

For some of our posts employees are required to have a Christian commitment and uphold our Christian Ethos.

Should surely say "for all our posts".

[Guest CyprusPluto]

maybe we could get Harold Shipman up on day release to help ease some of the problems

 

He's dead

[shetlandpeat]

Point one;

 

Lifts do go out of alignment, I assume you then would be fully versed in the reasons, the weight of the item that is the food trolley and the fact that the assistant or carer has to lean and push the button in to get the lift to descend or ascend or go down the staircase and call the lift. Any Idea how much the trolley weighs? I have seen TWO people struggle to get the unit into the lift. So, there is a problem with the lift.

 

Point two;

 

The letters and conversations I have had with representatives are personal to me and my agenda.

 

Point three;

 

The information on the capital spend is already in the public domain.

 

Point four,

 

Get involved.

 

I have already told in a previous post my thoughts and plans.

 

Oh, another point, my Dad was cared for at home, that is when he lost his dignity.

Shetland has an excellent care service on the whole, why should it be sacrificed to put profits in the equation.

[shetlandpeat]

Apologies to Edwardiii, we seem to have hijacked his thread.

[unlinkedstudent]

...

 

Lifts do go out of alignment, I assume you then would be fully versed in the reasons, the weight of the item that is the food trolley and the fact that the assistant or carer has to lean and push the button in to get the lift to descend or ascend or go down the staircase and call the lift. Any Idea how much the trolley weighs? I have seen TWO people struggle to get the unit into the lift. So, there is a problem with the lift.

 

Come on now, SP, credit me with some intelligence! A lift will not move if it is overloaded which is what you appear to be suggesting. There is NOT a problem with the lift but you would appear to be insinuating that there is a problem with the way in which the staff utilise the lift.

 

Tis a doddle. You put food trolley in lift and send it on its own. Staff at floor receiving trolley take it out. This is done in many a hospital / care home nationwide. I personally moved a food trolley yonks ago and there is a knack to getting them into lifts but it really isn't as difficult as you appear to be trying to make out it is.

 

Are you seriously suggesting that a food trolley weighs more than the lift's weight capacity?

[shetlandpeat]

Nope. You are making that out, as well as making out that it is the fault of the staff. I did not mention that the item was too heavy for the lift, I already suggested that the staff have to either lean in to send the lift or run down to call. So, with you statement there, no credit due. Over time, as you know, the lift parts stretch, this then requires regular service to put the problem right. Remember what Paul said, there has been a problem for some time. There would be a time when they would need replacing.

 

Your suggestions that, the service should be privatised (this would lead folks to be locked in their own homes) and the staff are at fault for a lift that needs replacing and their inability to use the lift without struggle is quite wrong. Folks will live many miles from each other, as seen by other posts, private companies do not really invest if you look at broadband, power, telephony and CATV. The social system is there for the folk who have paid in and those who have paid in, and pay on top of that to receive the best care money can buy, not have the money removed buy a select few who folk repeatedly vote for and then complain about. As far as political will and forward thinking by those councillors in charge, Shetland has become a Stag Nation. I am all for improvement, cutting back because of poor choices by the same old faces and then making the social system pay is quite wrong.

[unlinkedstudent]

^ SP, with all due respect, you did ask how much the trolley weighed so I don't think it is an unreasonable assumption to make that you were insinuating the weight of it was causing a problem with the lift. paulb said "was" a problem with the lift; perhaps it has now been fixed and if it hasn't then it doesn't really say a lot for a PUBLIC concern not repairing it during that time now does it? Perish the thought that PRIVATE owned care homes DO maintain their properties and fix such defects in much shorter time.

 

I wasn't saying that care homes here should be privatised; I merely enquired if any were in Shetland. That said, I know of many a splendid privately owned care home, including the one my mum resides in, owned by a lovely retired male nurse ... perhaps I should give him a ring on the old dog n bone to see if he would be interested in purchasing/running a care home up here? It may have escaped your 'publicly owned or be damned' mentality that there are privately owned care homes that do provide excellent facilities and services and don't feature on TV documentaries to the contrary. Many a new privately owned care home has moved away from the Goffman institutionalisation models of the past which cannot sadly be said of some publicly run establishments.

[paulb]

unlink your mixing two lifts up. the one i was talking about was at montfield it was always breaking down and was needing fully replacing. i don't know anything about the viewforth one. but i can believe a heavy food trolly ie hospital style would put a strain on an older smaller lift.

 

but your getting very off topic its about the care that our older folks should reasonably get. when they placed the care centre in montfield it was only a tempory messure i think they were talking of about two or so years.

 

the building is not fit to house elderly folks long term. apart from the building the main concern of staff that worked at vaila was security and safty. often there were only two staff on at night. imagine if there had been a fire. they alo were nerveous over security no porters on over night and jut two women to beal with any intruders.

[unlinkedstudent]

^ Thanks for pointing out to me, paulb, about the lift.

[shetlandpeat]

Montfield will be suitable for a very short term. Alas, this will not be the case if they go ahead with it as they may want to. Waiting for vacant rooms can take quite a while, waiting for someone to die can also take a while.

 

I sort of wonder how the home thing will work. My Dad had an alarm fitted to the doors so the monitors could know when he left. The trouble being with that is that by the time they got there, he had either come back or was not there. Eventually the Police Force were involved and I hope my thanks to them were conveyed.

 

The problem is not about lifts really, is it. A bit of selfish indulgence, and a reaction to that. We are not here to defend or condemn lifts.

 

The concern can only be with the residents, or service users. I agreed that some could go home, but they need looking efter.

 

Tea time...back later

[stilldellin]

^ Well I'm glad the lift issue has been put to bed. What I would like to know is how hiving all the residents off to independent living is going to cost less. For anybody even to contemplate such an idea are in a state of mind where it is they that are the ones needing help, but probably from psychiatrists .

As I see it at the moment at Viewforth we have up to 20 residents who require 24hr care. At night there would probably be 3 carers on duty.

For independent living there would have to be 2 carers per resident ( needs two persons to work hoist ) giving a potential of 40 carers on night duty !

 

You really canna mak it up....

[joenorth]

 

Many a new privately owned care home has moved away from the Goffman institutionalisation models of the past which cannot sadly be said of some publicly run establishments.

 

Sadly, overall, the opposite is true. The NHS Information Services Divisions 2010 census of care homes in Scotland shows a decrease in the number of private care homes in Scotland between 2000 and 2010, but an increase in the number of places. This signifies the building of bigger and bigger homes. Service providers do this to achieve 'economies of scale': that is, the more residents you can squeeze under one roof the smaller and cheaper your workforce can be. Other 'hotel' services such as kitchens and laundry can be concentrated on one site and will also be cheaper. There are no fixed requirements for staff/resident ratios in the UK, so the temptation exists for private employers to pare staff numbers to the bone. The bulk of private care providers pay close to minimum wage.

 

This is translating across the UK into 'granny farming'. The warehousing of residents in big, shared living areas detracts from quality of life. In the case of people with dementia, it is actively condemned in the research literature. However, the evidence is broadly ignored by private care providers.

 

In addition, the British Geriatrics Society point out the poor financial state of many of the larger care home chains, and consider that more of them will go into administration in the next few years (Argus Care and Southern Cross have gone already, of course). As such private providers are the major players in the long-term care sector, this is a situation which could well result in the government having to pick up the ball in the future (think RBS).

 

I can describe numerous positive aspects of the private care home experience I've witnessed, and numerous negative aspects of local authority- run homes. We can all make points based on our personal experience.

 

However, in thinking about the overall picture, residents in local authority- run homes are likely to have a better quality of life than those in private homes. The former will be looked after by happier, better paid staff in units which tend to be smaller and therefore more person-centred. The literature bears this out. A book which illustrates this very well is 'NHS Plc' by Prof. Alyson Pollock (you can see excerpts of it on Google books)