We have just had a massive exposure of abuse at a Learning Disabilities Hospital in the South West of the UK followed by exposure of poor management and potential abuse cases in a large Elderly Care organisation.
The most surprising thing to me, is that people are surprised by this. When we ship people off to care homes and hope that out of sight out of mind is a true care model, then don't be surprised when under trained, undersupported, underqualified, undermotivated staff become prison guards. To be honest though, having watched the recent Strangeways documentary, I'd rather have them in charge! They seemed to be more switched on, better trained and ultimately had more empathy with the people they had a duty of care towards. They smiled more, interacted more and seemed to be better carers.
Over the next few days we will be examining the setting conditions for both good and bad care models
