Knee Jerk Reactions and Deja VU

My English A level teacher at school had a degree in History from Cambridge.  When I enquired why he was now teaching English, he said he now taught English "because sadly humans never learn anything from history".  I remember as a 16 year old thinking to myself, he's both astonishingly cool and totally cynical.

So, was he right?

I think that now, after all these years, I can finally see that he was not only correct, but astonishingly so.
In the care sector, I find it incredible that we haven't learned the following 10 simple truths.

1. The immediate  knee jerk response to a problem is often pointless and counterproductive
2. Not everyone knows what they are doing
3. If you need people to follow the rules, tell them what the rules are in simple unequivocal language and then explain what the purpose of those rules are
4. Often rules in care homes are pointless, arbitrary and through word of mouth causing needless anxiety and conflict
5. If you apply a lot of pressure to people, they don't always do the right things at the right time
6. If you don't treat your staff well, then chances are, they won't treat the people they are paid to support well either.
7. Everyone is to blame, but no one is responsible
8. All organisations think it will never happen to them
9. Training is a core element of your staff development and an investment not a cost or a burden
10. Every organisation needs a Leader

Further I'm also becoming increasingly depressed that every time there is an expose of poor treatment of vulnerable people in care people seemed to be "shocked".  I wonder why it is, that something that happens so frequently has the ability to shock people?  Let's look again at humanity and discover when we should be shocked by the way we treat each other.  Why are we more shocked by a man slapping an elderly woman than we are by someone who lives on the street because they've lost their job and have a severe mental health problem.  What about the child who's bullied at school and goes home every night wanting to die because they can't go on?  What about the 1million other elements of human behaviour that are less than human?

The reality is that we will never stop the abuse of people in care, but, if you put a good system in with strong leadership and appropriate training, then you will certainly diminish the likelihood of it happening.