Editor's Blog: Is care home concern a case of putting profits before people?
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Our front page story this week is shocking.
The Care Quality Commission, the watchdog body which monitors
hospitals, care homes and other public and private sector
organisations involved in health service and social service
provision, has twice visited Loose Court in Maidstone and has
been deeply concerned with what it has found.
We don’t know if homes get warning of the
arrival of inspectors or whether they just turn up. Either way it
is appalling that these experts have seen at first hand - not even
from second hand reports - examples of what can only be described
as neglect.
The home looks after 36 elderly residents and
presumably makes a tidy profit on the back of the charges it
imposes. And we wonder if that is the root of the problem. Where
profit is undeniably the central motive there must be a temptation
to look at costs to maximise margins. We’re not saying that the
private sector cannot run care homes but this isn’t about producing
Mars bars – their ‘product’ is care and the provision of it to the
most vulnerable members of our society and the people who deserve
the greatest amount of attention and respect. In its defence, the
owners of Loose Court, Regal, attempts to blame the terrible
episode on a poor manager. But who employed that person and is the
package enough to attract someone of sufficient qualifications,
experience and calibre?
The prime ministerial debates are dominating
the election campaign. X-Factor politics has arrived. For Simon
Cowell we have Alistair Stewart and Adam Boulton. To my shame I
arrived in front of the telly last night 20 minutes into the debate
to ask my son ‘who’s winning?’ as if it was Chelsea v Man Utd.
Here in Maidstone, we’re organising our own
‘Hustings at the Local’ which will not have all the style and
polish of the TV events but we hope it will be a more genuine
exchange of ideas, banter and political jousting. There won’t be
great long speeches with candidates sat behind a trestle table in
front of lines of chairs. We want to help voters get up close to
the candidates and engage with the people who want to succeed Ann
Widdecombe. We’re aiming for a break with formality so we can get a
true picture of what the would-be MPs are actually like and what
they’re thinking. It’s at the Royal Albion pub in the middle of
Maidstone next Wednesday at 6.30pm. Come along – they serve a
decent pint there too!
Friday, April 23 2010
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