Convenience of staff: Inspections have uncovered cases where residents are woken in the early hours – in one case as early as 4am (file picture)
Elderly people should not be woken up early to fit in with care home staff rotas and save them extra work, new guidelines say.
Inspections have uncovered cases where residents are woken in the early hours – in one case as early as 4am – for the convenience of staff.
The lives of thousands of elderly and vulnerable people in care homes are also being put at risk because staff do not bother to make sure that residents get enough to eat, the National Institute for Care and Health Excellence (NICE) has warned.
New guidance instructs care home managers to give residents ‘as much choice as possible about personal routines’.
Professor Gillian Leng, deputy chief executive of NICE, said: ‘The person’s needs should come before what is most convenient for the home.’
On residents being forced to get up and go to bed at unusual hours for the convenience of staff, the NICE briefing paper, aimed at care home managers and local council social services chiefs, said residents should be allowed to ‘go at their own pace’.
The guidelines also warn that one in ten people over 65 suffer from malnutrition and called for care home staff to routinely monitor meals and diets.
NICE says: ‘Without proper care and attention, older people in care homes can develop malnutrition and this can lead to a hospital admission.
Investigation: Police arrested two workers on suspicion of neglect and ill-treatment after 83-year-old and 93-year-old residents died within days of each other at Birdgrove care home (pictured) in Berkshire
‘Care homes need to be aware of the need to provide residents with a balanced, healthy diet and to be aware of the signs of malnutrition.’
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Share 358 sharesThe intervention of NICE, which advises NHS and private health providers and decides which drugs the NHS should make available, reflects a growing concern that many care homes are run for the convenience of staff rather than residents.
The person’s needs should come before what is most convenient for the home Professor Gillian Leng, NICE deputy chief executiveThe warning on malnutrition follows a series of scandals involving care homes where elderly residents who needed help with meals were ignored.
Concerns have also been raised about the failure of care homes to give residents enough to drink – often because staff do not want to be bothered with helping residents to use the toilet in the middle of the night.
Both failures can lead rapidly to hospital admission and a high likelihood of death for the patient.
The NICE warnings came on the day the Daily Mail reported that two workers had been arrested on suspicion of neglect and ill-treatment following the death of a resident at the Birdgrove care home in Berkshire.
A large-scale academic study published last month found that care home residents are also highly likely to be suffering from dehydration when they go into hospital, and, once there, they are up to ten times more likely to die than other elderly patients.
Professor Leng said: ‘Our recommendations advise that people living in care homes should be helped to retain their independence and identity, for example through supporting them to take part in activities they enjoy, and allowing them to go at their own pace.
‘It is also important to respect a person’s right to make their own decisions if they still have the capacity to do so. This includes having as much choice as possible about personal routines such as when someone eats or sleeps, or spends time alone.’
She added: ‘Older people’s physical needs are equally important to their mental wellbeing.’
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