Even Good Care gets a Bad Press

Trailed on the front of Saturday’s Guardian Weekend magazine was the headline ’No Way Out - Inside a residential care home’. Turning inside, the article was strange and misleading.

The text was positive and thoughtful, written by a lady who has recently placed her mother-in-law into a dementia home. She discusses the dilemma she felt and about whether her mother-in-law was ready for care and about the difficulty of caring for a person suffering dementia at home. She explains why she feels that her mother-in-law is better off in a home rather than at home and how she can invent her own reality there. She describes the home, based in northern Scotland, as caring and comfortable.

Strangely this thoughtful and positive text is accompanied by photographs taken by Maja Daniels of a dementia home. Something about the pictures suggest that the home is overseas, mainland Europe possibly or the US. The palate is drab and grey and the residents look sad and desperate. The staff are absent from the sparsely decorated rooms with their cold clinical furniture.

The writer of the text even says that she doesn’t think her mother in law would have done so well in the home in the pictures.

So why do this? Here is a positive piece about how good care can improve the quality of life. There is enough stress for families placing a loved one in care so why not show pictures of the Scottish home with its carpets and soft furnishings to give an indication of the type of quality care that is now available? People paying for care have a choice.

The pictures and text are still available at the Guardian website. Search for ’Inside a Dementia Ward’.

Posted in The carefeesadvice Blog

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