I never thought I’d ever, ever finish up in a home, hospital, anything like that. I didn’t.
I always said I didn’t want to live till I was old. But I’m still going on. [laughs]
I think one of the fundamental things we’ve got to do is accept is we’re an older society,
this society is ageing. And if we don’t pay for the quality of services that we need,
we can’t expect to get them back.
Two environments driving to provide good quality care to the changing demographic are the Elder’s
People Forum based at the Malcolm X Centre in Bristol, and the Ivy Bank House Residential Home
in Bath. Both focus on creating open learning environments in which it’s everybody’s business
to look out for one another. Set against this backdrop, it’s much more likely that an older
person will speak out if they’ve experienced abuse.
I’ve seen vulnerability taken advantage of on more occasions than I would like to think about really.
There’s a lot of people involved with each resident, whether it’s you know your own staff,
whether it’s visitors, relatives, external people that come in, medical profession,
there is a huge amount of people around each single adult that’s with us.
So there are lots of potential situations.
Combined prevalence percentages in the UK suggest that in any one year,
around 350 thousand people aged 66 and over will experience abuse.
In order to combat this, Ivy Bank House is focused on prevention via better communication.
There’s many forms of prevention to potential abuse.
But the one I guess we work most closely with at Ivy Bank House is communication.
I think it’s really really key.
Did you do something interesting today?
- What did I - oh I had my hair done. - Ooh.
We’ve got a listening ear project and it’s a project that we piloted a couple of years ago.
And we’re still monitoring it and reviewing it as time goes on, things need to change.
But basically it’s a group of staff that we have trained in clear communication skills,
and particularly listening skills. And those staff are able to meet on a one to one basis with
residents, if the resident wishes, and actually offer a period of time where on a one to one basis
that resident, client, is able to open up about anything that might be bothering them.
Giving residents time to talk, with the opportunity to build relationships, should help them feel
more comfortable in sharing any concerns.
- Has he been going to see you, your son? - Yes.
- I thought I’d seen him. - Yes, he’s been here two or three times.
I’m proud to say that I’m part of the pilot project which has been ongoing now for two three years.
And it’s about listening ear, specially for those residents or clients
who come first time in a care home, whereby they’re very unsettled.
They’re coming from their own environment at home,
the whole change of lifestyle can be quite a difficult transition for people to manage.
To start with, I mean it was hard because I’ve always been used to a place of my own.
And I mean, you’re bound to get your down days and you can’t do anything about
in old age [laughs] unfortunately.
The reality of living in a care environment may not always be easy.
But by focusing on people’s needs and helping them to feel safe,
the home does go some way to keeping its residents happy.
Do you want some fruit to go with your yoghurt? Bit boring this diabetic lark, isn’t it?
- It is a bit, yes. - Do you like some fruit?
- I’ll have a banana please. - Alright I’ll go and get one.
It’s hugely important for residents to feel safe. I mean generally everyone likes to feel safe.
And as this is a person’s home, it’s also our workplace but we have to remember at all times
that whilst we’re at work, we’re actually doing that in somebody’s home.
And in our case when we’re full it’s 43 people.
So you know trying to balance working in the home of 43 very different individual people can be
quite difficult. But we have to remain mindful at all times that that actually is what we’re doing.
But what’s out there to help safeguard the non resident?
For the older generation living in the community, day centres play a very important role.
The Malcolm X Centre is one such place.
It was built in 1983 with the objective of bringing together local authorities,
voluntary organisations and inhabitants in a common effort to advance education
and good race relations. The Elder’s Forum meets here on a weekly basis.
The group offers the local Afro-Caribbean community somewhere they can come together
to be active, to be heard and feel protected.
Centres like the Malcolm X are very important
in supporting older people in the community. Providing a network and support.
And should they be in a vulnerable position,
they know they have got the backup of the rest of the community here.
You’re able to meet other West Indian people there,
and you can gossip and find out what is going good for them, what is going bad for them,
what is the government doing for them and what they’re not doing.
The club is supposed to empower them and let them have a sense of purpose
and know that they will be coming out and live as proud people in a manner that they used to live.
This is what they want - this is what we want.
The group provides good care, with strong relationships between its members.
They see it as everyone’s business to look out for one another.
Well if a member doesn’t turn up we enquire their whereabouts.
If someone is living next door or near, we ask that person to see if they’re alright.
If we don’t see one person this week, and we make enquiries,
you find time out to talk to the person, it’s going to take time. And you find out what their fears
are, why they didn’t come to the club, and sometime it can be just a gang of boys down the road.
And it takes the input from one of us, to get to a social worker or the police, and let them know
they’re hindering the progress of this person to going outside.
You got to delete the fear and let them feel as if they are
part of the community and worth something, and can contribute towards a better society themselves.
Every human being has a fundamental right to get a one to one care in this community
and I won’t stop shouting until I see something happen wherein older people are happy.
Older people continue to press the case for society to recognise
that it’s everyone’s responsibility to help safeguard vulnerable adults.
Where as at one time, we knew each other, we really did knew each other,
next door you know you’d talk over the fence, you’d invite people in for a cup of tea,
the busy scheduled life that we have now, have infringed a lot.
And we seem to have lost that, and we need to go back to that.
I think the whole pace and thrust of our society is creating vulnerability for people.
And I think a key point for us is, and we say this time and again,
there is no such thing as a vulnerable older person, people are vulnerable,
it’s the environment and circumstances we put around them and what
other people do that creates that vulnerability for them.
We’ve all got to take responsibility.
You know, we’re all on the same wheel, we’re all going to get old one day.
I think we should be expecting a much better standard of care.
We should be listening much more to the voices of the older people in our society
and providing care services that they need, that they want,
that is appropriate to them and that is of a good quality.
I think quality is the key
and people are entitled to (it).