Archive
Abuse and Neglect – or do we love animals more?
When I got home from work tonight I checked the BBC News website as I’m prone to do. One of the tragic headlines that caught my eye was about two MET Police Dogs suffocating in an unventilated vehicle. This report describes an avoidable situation, whether a simple accident or careless neglect, it is a really sad story and one that I couldn’t read without feeling angry and sad for both the animals and the people involved. I believe this story went live on the BBC Website at 7pm today (27 June 2011), by the time of writing (11pm) the article has been shared over 2000 times. Quite rightly too, it is sad and newsworthy, and preventable, so sharing the message makes sense.
Now, let me rewind to four weeks ago when a BBC Panorama reported on serious institutional abuse against people with learning disabilities in Winterbourne View – I blogged about it here. This hour long documentary reported on hideous treatment of some of the most vulnerable members of our society. I think you’d struggle to watch it, or read the news item describing it, and not feel incredibly angry or sad.
This story went live on the BBC Website mid morning on the 1 June 2011, by the time of writing (27 June) the article has been shared almost 14,000 times. Again I’d expect as much, it is *also* sad and newsworthy, and *also* preventable, so sharing the message makes sense.
So, what’s the point?
I’m sure most of you will have worked out where I’m going with this. The story about animal cruelty was shared 2153 times in 3.5 hours, the adult abuse story was shared seven times as much – but in four weeks. Now I appreciate that the rate of sharing will drop off sharply once the story is removed from the BBC front page, over time, and I’m not claiming this is some scientific observation. That said, I am shocked at the high levels of concern for animal cruelty when viewed in relation to abuse of our fellow humans.
I dug a little deeper with this and checked out the statistics for the RSPCA Cruelty Line. ”On average every 30 seconds someone in England and Wales dials 0300 1234 999 – the RSPCA’s 24-hour cruelty line – for help. We received more than 1.1 million phone calls during 2010″. RSPCA Key Information
The next place I looked was for an equivalent adult abuse line – but no such thing exists. Action on Elder Abuse run a free national helpline for those concerned about abuse of elderly people, but that does not speak to all adult groups. I was unable to find any figures about it’s use.
So desperate to explore my theory that we care more about animals than people, I checked up on stats from NSPCC, I couldn’t find 2010 figures but what follows is the stats about calls made by children to ChildLine (which covers any concerns they have, including abuse) and calls from adults to the Helpline in 2009-10: ”ChildLine counsellors dealt with over 500,000 contacts from children calling about various problems including bullying, sex abuse, violence and mental health issues. Nearly 12,000 allegations of children suffering abuse were passed from the NSPCC Helpline to police of social services” NSPCC Facts and figures about child abuse.
I’d like to conclude by offering the suggestion that we really do love our animals more than our fellow people.
I’m not sure if I believe that, but I think it’s relatively easy to see that we appear to be more appalled by animal cruelty and if not more appalled, more likely to act about it. Whether it’s a self-protection, not wanting to consider the reality situation; or a lack of awareness; or a lack of knowledge about what to do about it, I’m not sure. What I am sure about is that no animal or person should be subjected to abuse or neglect and as a society we should be more appalled and more proactive in preventing it.
Signposting
RSPCA Cruelty Line 0300 1234 999
NSPCC HelpLine 0800 800 5000 and ChildLine 0800 1111
Action on Elder Abuse Helpline 0808 808 8141
If you are concerned about a vulnerable person (adult or child) suffering abuse and don’t know what to do about it contact 999 if it is an emergency or a crime or contact your local council or police force for other concerns. Usually if you Google ‘reporting adult abuse’ and ‘the area where you live’ you will usually find what to do.
Are you planning on getting old?
I’ve just written a blog post about the Dilnot Commission looking at the funding of care and support. I wrote it and tweeted about it and realised that the vast majority of people in my twitterstream wouldn’t look twice at such a post. There in lies the problem – it’s vaguely technical, too detailed, and about something that few of us would realise we needed to know about.
But we do. Most of us will get old. Some of us will become disabled or get ill during our lives. We all need some care and support occasionally.
If you recognise that any of these things are likely to feature in your life then you might want to take a look at the Dilnot Commission findings in the next couple of weeks. By the time most of us are older and needing support, the State is unlikely to be providing it. Reading comments on the Observer article: Middle class face £35k bill to help pay for care in their own age, I was struck by how many people think that their National Insurance or Tax contributions should be enough to provide care. They’re not. Something different needs to happen. If you’re interested in more detail check out my earlier blog post here.
#Dilnot Commission – funding care and support
Almost a year ago the Government set up the Dilnot Commission to look at the future funding of care and support in England. Chaired by Andrew Dilnot, with the support of two commissioners Jo Williams and Norman Warner, the Commission is charged with making recommendations on how to achieve an affordable and sustainable funding system/s for care and support for all adults in England, at home and in other settings. Andrew explains it in the 60 second video below:
What is care and support?
Care and support is usually referred to as social care. It is enabling support, it helps people to be independent, active and healthy throughout their lives. It is the support required to enable people to do day-to-day things such as live at home, work, cook, shop, care for their family, engage with their friends, family and community, and essentially lead a fulfilling and independent life for as long as possible.
This support is provided by a range of services, including support to live independently, benefits for disabled people, practical support such as meals on wheels, day centres and care homes, home adaptations and adjustments and other housing support. Services are also available to provide support for carers.
Who needs care and support, who provides it and who funds it currently?
All of us, at some stage in our lives, are likely to require care and support. Most people who currently use care and support services are people who are disabled, who have a long term health condition or illness, people who have had an accident or injury, and older people.
Care and support is provided by local authorities who pay for (commission) or provide support services, funded by general and local taxes. These services are means and needs tested. People who are not eligible for support from local authorities, pay and provide for support themselves or with the help of their families. Voluntary and community organisations provide some support, as do private companies. Support is also provided by family and friends, there are 5.2million carers in England and Wales, you can read a post about one of them here.
Care and support is funded in three ways: people pay for some or all the charges for the support they receive; families provide support or pay towards its cost; you and I, everyone in society, pays through local and general taxes.
So what are the commission doing and why?
The Commission are looking at future options for funding care and support. They are using five criteria to assess options: sustainability and resilience; fairness; choice; value for money; and ease of use and understanding.
They need to do this because the current system is not sustainable. We are living longer than before and we are living healthier lives – this means that we need more care and support than we have done in the past. This is a good news story and it requires a positive response. The other reason is that our expectations have changed, people expect and want more choice and control, and care and support needs to change to meet this expectation.
What do we know so far?
The Commission launched a call for evidence at the end of last year to gather ideas about what future options could look like. You can read the summary of the 250 responses they received in the summary document on their website here. They also commissioned TNS-BRMB to carry out qualitative research to gather the views of the general public, a summary of their results can be found here. The final report and recommendations will be published on 4 July.
What we absolutely do know is that change needs to happen. I also think we can safely assume that this is going to get swallowed up into a political issue, see the report in today’s Observer, and @rich_w‘s blog post commentary “Our politicians have a moral imperative to ensure the future of social care funding is known, sustainable and fair“.
I agree wholeheartedly with Rich, at least I think our politicians *should* have a moral imperative, that said I’m not sure they do, and I think that is the bigger problem here. I believe that social care has an identity crisis, and if not an identity crisis certainly an image problem, consequently it is not high enough on the agenda of the general public or their politicians. The vast majority of people don’t recognise themselves as health or social care users, they are just people, who need some support. Until social care gets itself to a point where it can define clearly what it is, how it helps, and openly discuss its limitations (whether financial or otherwise) we’re in trouble.
I am looking forward to reading Dilnot’s report, and I’ve enjoyed the twitter discussions so far. I feel though that we need to continue to widen this conversation to ensure we really make a long term difference…and force our politicians to face up to their responsibilities.
My dad – the legend that is Bobby J
I have read a few tweets in my twitterstream today that have praised people’s fathers and I thought I’d take the time to put some thoughts down about my dad. As many of you will know Bobby J, my dad, is terminally ill with cancer. Not that you’d necessarily know that if you met him today. Mostly because of his awesome attitude, which is one of the things I most admire about my pa.
Bobby J, is quite simply a legend. He’s one of the most patient people I know – family history says that I never slept through the night as a child (still struggle with being a night owl even now) and that Dad could regularly be found, with me in his arms in the rocking chair. He also spent hours listening to me murder a descant recorder when I was learning to play and he used to insist that I practice, a big believer in practice makes perfect, he harboured ideas of one of his children being musical, sadly something that wasn’t really realised – although none of us are as tone death as Bobby! On the music front, one of my favourite childhood memories was when my Dad took me to listen to the Royal Marines Band – suspect that has influenced my admiration for bootnecks now, think it also goes someway to explaining my love of pipers!
My Dad has spent years volunteering with the Army Cadet Force, testament to his patience was the hours he would spend every October and November polishing his boots for the Remembrance Sunday parade. I only ever saw my Dad cry a handful of times as a kid – every one was linked to Remembrance Day in some way! My Dad is a practical man and nothing phases him, when the house I lived in was flooded in the middle of the night in Ireland, it was my Dad (in another country) who got the panicked phonecall to ask what we should do about turning off the electric. He also had many late night/early morning phonecalls when we couldn’t get a taxi home or were stranded somewhere – he’d pick up the phone and be compos mentis instantly – and as long as there was good reason behind the call he’d never complain. My Dad is a practical man, he fitted my kitchen and bathroom, helped decorate my house, lay my wooden floor and is guaranteed to have whatever tool you could possibly need – although it is only him that can understand the ordering of his shed! A stickler for appearances and a lover of ironing, my Dad was very unusual compared to my mate’s dads – I’d often come home from school in the summer to find him ironing in the garden, in shorts, with an extension lead run from the house – not normal behaviour by a long shot.
But that’s it really, my Dad wasn’t, and isn’t, normal – he is exceptional.
A generous, patient, fun man with stoicism and determination like I’ve rarely seen in anyone else. He has fought his cancer diagnosis in much the same way he has tackled lots of things in life – with a complete and utter belief that he can succeed – and to date he is doing just that. I know everyone thinks their Dad is the best, but mine quite simply is.
My Dad and a very little me!
Musical transitions
This week I had the absolute pleasure to listen to, and play with, the Nottingham City Music Service Area Bands. They had agreed to play at Directors Forum #df2011 and around 80 children, mostly from Year 5 and 6, came along to perform a number of pieces. They were fantastic. Of course they were all enthusiastic, they were dedicated, the concentration was palpable, there were a number of proud parents in the room, some brilliant teachers and truly engaging and supportive adult supporters. It really was an excellent performance. First up they played Carmina Burana, followed by Coldplay’s Viva la Vida and then The Passenger.
Not sure what The Passenger sounds like? Bet you do, it’s the Iggy Pop song that has been used for the most recent T Mobile ad – you can listen to the Trombone part here:
MF Transition Project: Trombone
Why am I telling you this? Well there was a twist – we were encouraged to join in. Now I don’t consider myself to be very musical, I can sing reasonably enough, and played four different recorders as a youngster, but it is *years* since I have done anything even vaguely musical. Nothing could phase the conductors though, indeed they were confident they could teach anyone to play the required part on the violin or cello.
…You know what’s coming don’t you, I jumped onto a Cello and I can honestly say I haven’t had such a great time in a long time. I am still suffering with a sore finger – no doubt from pressing my strings too hard in all my excitement but it was brilliant. It was fantastic to practice something, relatively simple (we only needed three different notes), to feel like you made progress so quickly, to feel part of something bigger, to really enjoy it without too much pressure. The children and teachers who showed us what to do were amazing, very patient and oozing enthusiasm.
The National Music Transition Project is a pilot project working with Year 6 students who are due to leave primary school, they learn an arrangement and leave primary school confident in their ability to sing and play it. Then in the first half term of secondary school Year 7 teachers work with children to create an extended arrangement. In Nottingham the number of children who give up playing a music instrument on transfer to secondary school is staggering, ‘68% of those playing instruments in primary schools had given up two months into Year 7‘. It is a similar story across the country, hundreds of children who stop playing music once they move into secondary education.
The project supports primary schools to introduce The Passenger into their instrumental work, and encourages secondary schools to talk to their feeder primaries and schedule sessions that are based around The Passenger at the start of the year, to enable primary school children to show what they can do musically. You can find out more about the Transition Project on the Musical Futures website. Audio and video resources are available alongside a Teacher Resource Pack.
I know I’m not the target audience of this project, unfortunately I left primary school a long time ago, but at that time I stopped playing recorder. I didn’t feel confident enough to try out for the school orchestra, I did fancy playing the Trombone but after a couple weeks of practising in our terraced house (and not too much progress) my folks put a stop to that. I think this project has huge potential to ensure people don’t lose the love of singing or playing – a number of us spoke over dinner about the fact that as adults we didn’t tend to sing or play any more – I’d recommend it, even if just once in a while, it really did wake up a very latent part of my self! Now anyone know anyone who gives Cello lessons in Devon….
My mum – a post for #carersweek
Ma and Pa – Jan 2011
This post is dedicated to my mum. She is one of the 6million people in the UK who are carers, although it is only recently that she has come to consider herself as such. My mum lives next door to my grandparents who are both in their 90s, they live independently with her support, but would have lost their independence a long time ago if she was not available to support them. My mum checks they have managed to get themselves up each day, she buys and delivers the paper to them every day, she does a weekly shop for them, takes Gran out to the hairdressers on a Thursday, is pharmacist assistant (my grandfather prides himself on being Head Pharmacist dishing out his medication each day), medical transport service, daily bringer of family news and all round foundation for their independence.
In the past couple of year’s my Dad’s health has deteriorated and recovered and we now live knowing that it will deteriorate again. My Dad is an absolute trooper, he has fought his cancer every step of the way and every step he has taken, mum has been next to him, shoulder-to-shoulder providing support. Even when she has not shared his view or opinion, or agreed with his treatment choices, she has still put herself into the background and supported my Dad, doing all she can to enable him to make his own choices – offering her view but ultimately providing support for Dad with the choices he makes.
My parents brought three children up and worked hard all their working lives, very shortly after they retired my Dad got sick. Shortly before mum gave up work my grandparents moved to live next door to us, to support their independence, not that I think we ever thought they’d live as long as they have. Most of my mum’s retirement has been spent supporting her family in some way – she has always been supportive of all of us but of late she has little time for herself. A couple months ago when Dad was referred to the palliative care team at the local hospice, someone actually took the time to ask my Mum how she was doing. She was offered a place on a short course for carers and it has really made a massive difference to her sense of self – since then her local support network has grown, her sense of isolation has decreased and her self confidence has grown. I think the thing she has valued the most is the fact that other people have recognised her contribution, understood her concerns or challenges, and offered her a sense of community.
In a recent Change Project from research in practice for adults, carers and service users were asked what they wanted from social care practitioners, the response reported in the half way blog post was as follows:
“Frequently the word recognition is used in terms of what makes a good experience for carers. The question is: what does this mean? Is it a question of acknowledging someone is a carer, writing that down and acting on it? Or is it more to do with the way you respond humanly to the experience of that individual as a carer; how you show in your response that you know and feel that they are a carer? Recognition comes from the Latin recognoscere, to know again. It includes the sense that if you came across that person again you would remember them – there was something that stuck. If you really ‘get’ something about that person then you will recollect them”.
This post is one small way in which I wanted to recognise the fantastic role my mum plays as a carer, she is unlikely ever to see it, or know about it, and that’s fine. She is just one representative of many, there are an estimated six million carers in the UK (that figure doesn’t include people who provide support but don’t recognise themselves as a carer). Each and every one of you who has read this post will know someone who is a carer, you might not know that they are, but I’d be fairly certain we all know someone. We can each provide a certain level of support to carers, by offering the recognition for the support that they provide. Our society would be far worse off without them.
24 Hours in A&E
Last week I watched 24Hours in A&E for the first time on Channel 4, today I watched this week’s episode and felt like sharing just in case any of you have missed it. Filmed in Kings College Hospital, London it does what it says on the tin, reports on 24hours in one of the busiest Accident and Emergency Departments in England.
I love documentaries, I love biographies, I love glimpses into people’s lives….this programme is a fantastic combination of all of these things. As someone who has spent more than my fair share of time in A&E departments in the last few years, more often than not I’m amazed at the professionalism and compassion of the staff.
As one of the consultants featured this week, Jacqui, stated ‘I think there are days when what happens will bring tears to your eyes, you’re faced with people who are having life changing or life ending events, every day, and on some level it must make you appreciate what you’ve got, what you’re capable of doing, and so you know I think you’re mad if you don’t take the opportunities that are presented to you to enjoy life while you’ve got it, because unfortunately one day you could be crossing the road and it’ll all be over’.
Seventy cameras filmed throughout the department, 24 hours a day for 28 days and captured 4200 hours of footage. This footage has been crafted into a documentary that shows the highs and lows of patients and staff, it is fair and representative, heart warming and heart breaking at the same time. It is a reality check and a priority benchmark, to steal another quote from the show:
‘Everyone should walk through an Emergency Room at least once in their lives, because it makes you realise what your priorities are; it’s not the rush, rush, rush and the money, money, money, its the people you love and the fact that one minute they might be there, and one minute they might be gone’
Go watch it, you wont be disappointed.
When will we learn? #safeguarding lessons
Over a week has passed since the Panorama exposé of practice at Winterbourne View. Run by Castlebeck the facility is described on their own website as “a purpose designed acute service, offering assessment and intervention and support for people with learning disabilities, complex needs and challenging behaviour“. I am not going to go into detail about what the film covered, you can still see the episode here and there have been several excellent blog posts and commentaries published. There has been a lot of outrage, a few apologies, a lot of promises and a lot of anger.
Reflections
What I thought I would just do was offer a few of my reflections on the programme – I’m not claiming these will be original, but they were what stood out for me:
1. Respect and Value As a society how much do we respect people with learning disabilities? What value do we place on their care and support – providing it in a building on the edge of an industrial estate. An industrial estate, seriously, how many of us would like to live on the edge of an industrial estate? I’m not sure what message that sends to the residents/patients/customers and their families and I’m also not sure what message it sends to the staff. If, as a society, we don’t show respect for and value people with learning disabilities, why would we expect the people who are paid the minimum wage to provide their care, to act any differently?
2. Boredom and underload The staff shown in the show were quite simply bored. They had too much time on their hands, they didn’t know how best to engage their residents and so they entertained themselves; as my Gran would say ‘Idle hands are the Devil’s playthings’. Rarely did the staff attempt to meaningfully engage the residents, and when they did they weren’t successful and got little feedback, so nothing would encourage them to persevere.
3. Aspirations The staff shown engaging in abuse at Winterbourne View were not people who aspired to be carers. One of them, Graham, had previously been the kitchen porter, I’m not sure how he came to be working as a carer but he certainly hadn’t applied to Castlebeck with that role in mind. One of the Senior Support Workers, the one referred to as the ‘ring leader’, Wayne, previously worked in a Young Offender Institution and had an ambition to open a tattoo parlour. These people were not people who aspired to be carers, that said they didn’t lack aspiration or ambition, but they were simply not doing a job that interested them. This relates to the earlier point about value, how much value do we place on care work? As a society do we value the work that Graham and Wayne do?
4. Isolation As an assessment facility, many of these residents were miles from their family, friends and support networks. These were not unloved, forgotten individuals though; they were not vulnerable and isolated residents with no support; they had supportive and engaged, loving families. However, the residents at Winterbourne View were kept on a locked ward, their families and friends never had access to where they lived, instead visiting in a visitors room. They were isolated by their situation.
5. Training These staff lacked training and support. They were working with people with complex needs, idiosyncratic communication, and arguably challenging behaviour. They were providing support for all of their needs. A lot of the media backlash has laid blame at the individual’s involved – and yes they should know better – but in amongst the awful behaviour there were attempts to engage with residents.
Wayne, who was so awful at times, was also the one who sat holding Simon’s hand (in the scene were the horrific abuse of Simone was the focus); on another occasion, before snapping and dragging a resident from her bed, he had knocked on the door before entering her room and greeted her with a cheery “morning princess”. In one scene he threatens Simon with flushing his head down the toilet – he has his head suspended above the bowl and as Simon screams his complaints, Wayne offers the reasoning that ‘this is what other people feel like when you give them bear hugs’ – at some level, Wayne’s behaviour could be interpreted as the attempts of a man who knows no better, trying to teach Simon a lesson.
Simon’s learning difficulties, and the difficulties of other residents, mean that they will not learn through tough love, no doubt the approach that Wayne’s parents or superiors took with him, would not work. I’m not so sure that he knows any better way of doing things.
I’m not suggesting that Wayne’s behaviour is forgiveable, but I do think he lacked support to do a better job. Remember this is a man who wants to run his own tattoo parlour, who has worked their for three years, who earns £16k a year, who has no qualifications for the role he performs.
Conclusion
We know what needs to change. We should have learnt these lessons by now, at least with regards to institutional abuse. There was a reason why long stay hospitals were closed down in the 80s, we know what causes institutional abuse.
Two years ago, research in practice for adults published Safety Matters: developing practice in safeguarding adults - if you click the link you can see extracts from the Practitioner Handbook. This publication was the result of an action research project that I co-facilitated with Bridget Penhale (an academic and Joint Editor of the Journal of Adult Protection – alongside Margaret Flynn who will conduct the SCR for South Gloucestershire Safeguarding Adults Board), Paul Bedwell and Stephen Bunford from Essex Safeguarding Adults Board. We looked at the available research evidence, and combined it with practice knowledge about improving safeguarding practice, talking to professionals from across the country about their experiences and learning. The document, while in need of a refresh, still contains lots of information and ideas for practice. One of the checklists contained looks at pointers of institutional abuse, we should have been able to spot this, and prevent it, earlier:
I am delighted at the sense of national outrage in response to Panorama. I would be even more delighted if we could start by looking at the evidence we already have, and trying to use that to improve practice. As a society we have to ask ourselves some fundamental questions about how we value and treat people with learning disabilities and rather than pointing the finger at a few individuals uncovered by a journalist, we should ask ourselves what more or what different we could do.
That call in the middle of the night…
(cc) Photo by Jim Linwood on flickr
Last night, at 3.37am I received a phonecall. I was fast asleep and I woke up and first off thought I was dreaming, then thought it was an alarm, then a phone…and eventually realised it was my phone. I stumbled out of bed and by the time I got to it, it had stopped ringing, I checked who had rung and it was a mobile number. Not one I recognised. I searched my contacts and the number didn’t match, I searched my work phone and it didn’t match there either.
I went back to bed and five minutes later the phone rang again. So I googled the number (Google how I love you) and found it was a spam number – either used to deliver texts to landlines and/or to spam so you call the number back and it charges you a fortune. Either way, I turned the ringer off on my landline and went back to bed.
Where I lay thinking….about when the next middle of the night phonecall will come. A few years ago when my Dad, Mum and both grandparents were sick I had a number of calls in the early hours to say people had been taken ill, were up at A&E, needed support. I go to bed every night semi-aware that a call might come. Last night the adrenalin was pumping, the headache descended, the panic and then the calm when I realised it was a false alert. I know one of these days that call will be real, luckily not just yet.
