I think that the elderly people in the rest homes, and in their homes should be given the up-most respect. They have the years of wisdom and knowledge that a lot of young do not have, and some will never see because of lack of patiences and understanding. There is not too much that you can not ask an older person, and they can not give you an answer for your questions. They have been here for us so, why can"t we be here for them? Give them the love, support, respect, and assuranced that they need and deserved. My mother is 88 years old and, she has a birthday coming up in January 23,2008 and i always try to cook her a big dinner. The whole family get together. If i don't cook , then someone else in our family will do something.. We love and respect our mother and a rest home is out of the question for her because i know that she would eventually give up on everything, she needs to be around love and support and most nurses do not have the time or patiences.

mary cooper, Rocky Mount , U.S. NC

As long as employers get away with calling "watching a dvd and answering some multi choice questions", TRAINING and whilst some nvq's are simple tick box exercises completed in weeks, staff will not benefit and neither will standards of care. Jon in Sheffield hits the nail on the head when he says there is an inspection issue IE: they don't focus on quality- inpectors need to ask themselves, what does the employer class as training? Too many get around the inspection process by producing their own certificates based on a DVD that staff are required to watch in house.

Dave, Lincoln,

not all residential care homes are run in this way, there is plenty of good practice within this service, but this is not reported at national level. there are measures in place to protect vunerable adults and the relatives,and staff are encouraged to use the eporting measres in place. there should be no room for abuse f the eldery, but if potential service users and their relatives are put off rom using th servics, in the longrun there is the potential for more abuse.

claire, bexley, kent