Compassion must be put back into care for older people €“ Archbishop

The Catholic Archbishop of Southwark has called for values, compassion and an “ethos of service” to be put back at the heart of health and social care services for older people.

Responding to the Care Quality Commission report out this week, Archbishop Peter Smith said a system that lacked care would “fail people time and time again”.

The commission’s report found that one in seven nursing homes is failing to provide regular meals and water to patients, leaving some malnourished and dehydrated.

Of the 599 nursing homes visited by inspectors between October 2010 and July 2011, 84 had not met the legal nutritional requirement.

Director of operations at the CQC, Amanda Sherlock said: “The majority of care homes we’ve inspected do comply with the essential standards.

“However our inspectors have also seen providers where meals are simply placed in front of frail, vulnerable people, who are least able to complain, with no attempt to help them eat, until their food is cleared away uneaten.

“It is completely unacceptable where people have been losing weight alarmingly – yet no attempt has been made to find out why, to offer them adequate assistance or to refer them to a specialist for help.”

Archbishop Smith said the report had not simply highlighted failures in care but “something which is deeply wrong at the heart of our health and care services”.

“How we value the people we care for, and how we treat them, holds up a mirror to who we truly are as a society and as individuals,” he said.

“The CQC report rightly identifies that we must put compassion, a commitment to dignity and a determination to keep people happy and healthy at the very centre of our care services, and that the systems are too often being allowed to fail.”

He said regulation had a part to play in improving standards but was not the whole answer to poor care for the elderly.

“It is essential to foster a culture of care which cherishes life from its beginning to its natural end, which recognises the God given dignity of the older person, and sees it as the greatest honour to respect their dignity through the best care possible."

The Archbishop said the Church could make an important contribution to the way in which society cares for older people and was keen to share its experience with the Government.

“Care homes for the elderly should always have an ethos of care and dignity for the elderly,” he said.