LEGAL MATTERS
Care Homes: Making
the best decision
or many families the traumatic and heart
wrenching decision to allow loved ones to be
put into Care Homes to be looked after by
strangers is one of the most difficult decisions
that they will ever have to make. In the vast
majority of cases people have no say in the matter.
Whether they are transferred directly from their
own homes or from hospital on many occasions
this decision is made for them without any real
consultation and in some cases without any proper
assessment of the person’s individual needs and
whether or not the Care Home is in a position to
meet those needs.
I speak from my own family’s experience in this
respect. With hospitals eager to free up beds which
are deemed to be “blocked” by frail and elderly
patients many are transferred from those
institutions without Care Homes having had the
opportunity to see the person or assess their needs
on a personal basis. Where they are sent and into
what type of home is at the whim of those
commissioning the care on behalf of the NHS.
Even when people are transferred from their own
homes the individual’s input into the decision
making process is extremely limited – he who is
paying decides.
There are, of course, many excellent Care
Homes providing top quality care but we all know
that whatever the Care Qualit y Commission may
say about an individual Care Home – the care
provided is only as good as the caring staff
themselves and the training that they have been
given. Economic constraints placed on Care
Homes mean that often corners are cut in relation
to the training and numbers of staff available. It is
often impossible for the staff themselves to provide
the level of care that they would like to because of
the severe demands upon their time and in those
circumstances.
The most common cause of injuries to patients
in Care Homes are falls. All patients should be
properly assessed as to the risk of them having falls
and should be properly monitored. What, however,
happens if the patient has urgent needs and there
are simply not enough staff around to deal with
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them as quickly as necessary? Again this arises
from the patients’ needs not having been properly
assessed and the appropriate level of support not
being provided. These issues are compounded
where there is not only physical disability to be
cared for but also mental disability eg dementia.
Those patients, who are not able to care for
themselves in any way, are as a result, liable to
expose themselves to risks of danger in many
different circumstances without realising this.
There will be occasions when injuries are
sustained by people in what are purely accidents
but many such injuries could be avoided if proper
assessments were made of a patient’s needs, care
plans properly prepared and updated and correct
levels of staffing and supervision provided. In
many circumstance this is unfortunately not the
case.
This is to some extent a sad reflection on society
that the most elderly and vulnerable citizens are
exposed to additional risks in this way simply in
many cases due to economic constraints – and as
more and more of us live longer and as a result
more and more pressure is put upon the care
system -the situation is unlikely to improve
Tim Cogan – Senior Partner, Tinsdills
Solicitors
Tim qualified in 1984. He specialises in claimant
personal injury with over 25 years’ experience in
the field, and is also on the Board of Managing
Partners. He is a member of the Law Society
Personal Injury Panel and a fellow of the
Association of Personal Injury Lawyers.