ABSTRACT
In recent times the British media has often highlighted the poor, negligent and sometimes fatal care of older people. This raises questions about how we deliver care to older people and how that care is regulated and supervised. This chapter will delve beneath the headlines to ascertain if this initially negative image is justified and will try to present a more balanced picture. During the period of writing, one telling document and a telling story were published in England. A report by Baroness Kingsmill CBE into the working conditions of workers in the care sector across the UK, describes exploitative work practices affecting the ‘almost invisible’ 1.8 million care workers in the UK. In it she describes how care workers are under-valued, under-paid and under-trained. 1 The English media gleefully highlighted the story of Bernard Jordan, aged 89, a navy veteran who ran away from his care home, to attend the D-Day anniversary celebrations in Normandy. Typically, the stories were titled ‘The great escape’ and claimed that Mr Jordan had been banned by his residential care home from attending and related how he left the home with his medals hidden under his coat. 2 This story raises questions about a resident’s relationship with his care home and the perceptions and realities of the roles on both sides.
