Prime time investigates

Kunle

I am sick to death of the propaganda on this program.

JONJO THE MISER

What propaganda?
I see they now have a woman who came from South Africa in 2008 and got a job with some carer company, first of all how did she get to work in Ireland?
She has a small kid, last i heard Ireland didn't have free movement of labour with South Africa, just another example if Ireland's crazy immigration situation.

Diddler1977

Kunle wrote: »

I am sick to death of the propaganda on this program.

Could you enlarge on this please.......

BigBrownBear

Kunle wrote: »

I am sick to death of the propaganda on this program.

Eh I don't know if you were watching the same programme as me.
What I saw was-

• Agencies hiring staff without even basic qualifications
• Agencies paying staff less than e1 per hour
• Agencies not giving staff legally entitled rest periods
• Care workers not giving a toss about their clients
• Elderly people being abused by so called CARE workers

I have to say the girl who went undercover and was able to give the altzeimers patient her medication, without resorting to threats like the other one, was a shining light.
She was caring, concerned and patient and was heartwarming to see her make a bond with the poor woman

MardiB

Kunle wrote: »

I am sick to death of the propaganda on this program.

Propaganda? For whom?

Btw The scene with the lady being force fed reduced me to tears, how inhumane.

omahaid

Kunle wrote: »

I am sick to death of the propaganda on this program.

You are completely wrong

digme

well expect africans to be looking after us all with the eu's new inititive to bring in african workers to the eu.....
Pack of muppets

Richard Dower

I blame the Polish.

digme

Richard Dower wrote: »

I blame the Polish.

Yes because polish society is so far behind our own........ :rolleyes:

DrumSteve

this programme is absolutely infuriating. Felt so sorry for that old lady.

Atlantic Dawn

Was it not Prime Time that did a very similar program that included Leas Cross Nursing Home some couple of years back and the HSE investigated it all and made report after report after report and now they are going to make some more reports about problems that occured since they made the previous reports and then they will hold a meeting about holding a meeting and perhaps make a new larger report after those meetings.

Such utter $hite, paying top dollar for a third world health system, the HSE should be disbanded.

JerryHandbag

Seriously disturbed and outraged by the carry on shown up by this programme, so called care workers. Disgraceful.

peking97

I think the HSE have a lot of explaining to do. They are paying out public money to these agencies with apparently no auditing of same.

JonathanAnon

BigBrownBear wrote: »

She was caring, concerned and patient and was heartwarming to see her make a bond with the poor woman

While I agree with you about a lot of what you say... I think you have to take in to account that this is a produced show, and as such is not necessarily objective..

1. The Individual Carers...
The girl who was the "plant" is of course going to be caring, concerned and patient... as she knows that her every movement will be watched by the editors of the program, and could possibly end up on national television... The other carers were not afforded that foreknowledge, so that they could up their game... However, even without knowing that they were being watched, you would still expect a much better base level of conduct from the carers...

2. The Private Company...
The people who were running the private companies seemed to just have the bottom line in focus... no certification, no minimum pay, no accountability..... get in to the job and get out asap, and hope there is no comeback... It seems that a lot of the public service work is being subcontracted (which I dont necessarily disagree with) to avoid the overheads of pensions/unions/"entitlements" that full time public servants have... However, the HSE people who have hired these companies must have done zero background work.

3. The Patients...
Another thing that I think needs to be taken in to account is that growing old and dying is simply NOT a nice experience.. and while we would all like to "never lose the head" in frustration as we see what happens to our elder relatives, it can be difficult not to keep calm throughout the whole experience..

maxxie

DrumSteve wrote: »

this programme is absolutely infuriating. Felt so sorry for that old lady.

I actually would have seriously hurt the woman force feeding that old lady!!

:eek::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

fastrac

What stood out to me was the total lack of supervision by the H.S.E. of these companies that get millions of euro annually. We all know what the ordeal ordinary citizens endure when applying for social welfare and the diligence of state employees enforcing litter laws, Smoking bans,parking regulations,dog licenses,fishing licenses,car tax. Will anybody in the H.S.E. lose their job over this crime against the most vulnerable people ? I dont think so. If you know somebody depending on these services make it your business to call to see them and have a good look around to make sure their care is up to the standard expected in 2010.

philstar

Kunle wrote: »

I am sick to death of the propaganda on this program.

i take it your involved with one of those care agencies:cool:

panda100

JONJO THE MISER wrote: »

What propaganda?
I see they now have a woman who came from South Africa in 2008 and got a job with some carer company, first of all how did she get to work in Ireland?
She has a small kid, last i heard Ireland didn't have free movement of labour with South Africa, just another example if Ireland's crazy immigration situation.

digme wrote: »

well expect africans to be looking after us all with the eu's new inititive to bring in african workers to the eu.....
Pack of muppets

These posts really make me mad and show such a complete lack of ignorance its unbelievable.
What the f*ck have their nationality's got to do with the state of Ireland care industry?

I've been working in the care industry for the last 10 years. I worked as a care assistant all throughout medical school and work as a disability support worker now. I was delighted to see Primetime finally exposing the state of home care companies last night.

The privatisation of the care industry has completely and utterly destroyed it.
These private companies get huge subsidies from the state, yet their sole aim is to make profit not to provide care. The private companies I worked for were atrocious.Minimum wage for really tough physical and emotional work.
I did so much free overtime I would be a millionaire by now in any other profession.

The HSE is the only home car provider I would work for now, as they actually pay you semi-decent rates for the work you put in.
Its about time that the health profession realised what a crucial and vital role care assistants play. The Health service at the moment is completely skewed towards physical health and giving massive salary's to consultants and doctors. Without question, care assistant work is the toughest work I ever did in my life. You have to address not only the physical need's but also the emotional and social needs of clients which often have very challenging behaviours such as Dementia and Alzheimers. Despite the vital role they play, the majority of care assistants remain on minimum wage. For the work they do, this is not enough.So of course, you have a low quality of workers seeking out this work.

Also, the FETAC training is a joke and a complete waste of time. Ive done at least 5 manual handling courses and they show you how to do everything by the 'regulations'. The regulations insist that there must be two carers present when manual handling and hoisting a patient. Yet there is no funding for two carers.I have only ever lifted clients by myself and without assistance, so the FETAC training is completely redundant anyway.

I was surprised that Primetime also didnt mention the garda vetting scam a few of these home care providers have going. I sent off my cv to a whole load of them two years ago. I got emails back straight away from three of them offering me work, I just had to send in €15 to process my gardai vetting form, with an application form. I say there making a mint of that scam.

The Black Oil

MardiB wrote: »

Btw The scene with the lady being force fed reduced me to tears, how inhumane.

That was awful, one of few those times when you'd feel like looking away from the screen. That and when the other carer wouldn't let her go to the toilet on her own.