What are bed blockers?

What exactly is a bed blocker ?
If an elderly person has dementia why are they in a hospital anyway ?
Shouldn’t they be in a care home ?

@Muddy ,. Good point , l can only think that it is because it costs the
government money to place indigeent persons into a care home ! !
Hospitals are free at point of delivery ? :roll_eyes::roll_eyes:

Yes bed blockers should be released into care .
However care in the community is like hens teeth !
It either doesn’t exist or is a rare commodity.
Who sets out to look for a career in care …the pay is appalling.
Its a tragedy.

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@Ripple , So what do we do Rip,
Bring back the asylums ??
Remember those !? :roll_eyes::roll_eyes:

Why asylums? Most of the bed blocks are elderly …many of whom could manage in their own homes if care in the community and halfway housings was available.

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I think that’s it, sadly. There just aren’t the resources anymore to take care of people in their homes. There was a wee old lady I lived close to in the old place, and she got meals on wheels. They literally delivered the meals and let her get on with it. They were microwaveable, but they were in and out of her place like a postman! Poor lady had mobility issues so goodness knows how she managed. Her nephew didn’t like anyone trying to help - said it was family only, but he only came by at night.

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I had to look bed blockers up…

I have been a carer, and care in the community/ in their own homes, is thriving and big business round here.

The money isn’t very good, depends what NVQ level you have.

I think “ caring” is in a person, whether they get paid well for it or not.

These care homes, I’ve worked in also…some rooms are over a £1,000 a week…

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@Ripple ,. Quite right , trouble is everybody in the community is much
too busy working three jobs to worry about their elders ?
Perhap we shouldn’t call them asylums anymore?
Maybe holiday camp would be better ?? :roll_eyes::roll_eyes:

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They will blame the situation on people living too long.
Most elderly people just need TLC but what nurse can provide that in the hospital when they are short staffed and run off their feet.

Home carers are rushed off their feet trying to do as much as they can in the tiniest time they are allocated for each patient. .

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The country needs 1000s of Pauline’s
But the pay as you say is deplorable .
Why should people who take up a career in care often have to rely on tax credits and food banks for Fs sake ….it makes me so angry.

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Yeah, it seems old people have become a 'resource to be exploited nowadays ?
skin them till there’s nuffink left?
We even have to pay for our own burials ??
Shouldn’t that come under refuse collection ?? :-1::grin::-1:

I didn’t say the pay is deplorable,Ripple, and I certainly wasn’t complaining about the low pay, if that’s what you were thinking,you said that the pay is deplorable.

Us carers as I once was, don’t go into that profession for the money…we do it because we care…I loved caring for the elderly and emi patients… money was the last thing on my mind.

I never relied on any of what you say and I was a single parent of 3 boys.

I also worked 3 nights a week in an emi unit… I got better pay there than I did as a cook in a residential/ nursing care home.

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Why not who else is going to bury you ?

If people live until their nineties as we often do these days , one’s children are also old and probaby retired themselves and may not be in that good health themselves. Everyone seems to hark back to a mythical time when granny sat in the inglenook cared for by her loving family .
It was not like that for many people .

It’s usually because there’s no places available for them in a care home but they can’t manage at home on their own and there isn’t enough help available for them to go home safely or any care when they get there :cry:

It takes time to either get a care package in place for them at home ( and when they do it is usually woefully inadequate) or to find them a residential care home

And until that can be done, in hospital they must stay although they don’t really need hospital medical care

Carers are on £9,50 per hour( at our place anyway) for a 12 hour shift, no sick pay if you get Covid ect, we have had 4 carers leave last month, two out of the profession completely, as they don’t get many carers from Europe anymore, they go further afield, India or the Philippines, they pay them retainers so they have to stay for 5 years, plus they pay their travel costs ( taxis) to get to and from work, no one else gets this and I believe they are on more money, although I don’t know for sure…the crisis in care that you read about is very real there’s nothing attractive about going into care as a profession anymore, people can no longer afford to do it as a calling…

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Pay attention !! I explained that! refuse collection !! Doh! :-1::-1:

Ozzie’s mum wants to go home. Unfortunately, she needs carers for too or three times a day for meals etc.The carers are not available for that level of care so the lady remains in hospital.

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Mr Ms Aunties carer was allotted 15 minutes she had just about enough time to say hello and shove the food in the microwave . Luckily Auntie ( 98 ) was able to pay privately for other carers to come in a couple of times a week and a cleaning lady once a week who changed the bed linen and brought some of her shopping up the stairs ( .she was on the first floor )

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Carers can only care. They cannot do housework.
They cannot lift unless there are two of them.
At one time they could not administer medicines. I am not sure if this has changed now?