Compulsory, legal requirements for staff to service user ratios in care and nursing homes.

My Lovely 84-year-old mother has the terrifying condition Dementia. This means she will eventually forget everything, including who her loved ones are, how to do day to day tasks, how to feed herself and eventually how to breath. For me her daughter this is heart breaking to see and placing her in a care home was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do, but knowing she was safe and receiving the care she needed was some conciliation to me. However, the more I visit my mam in her care home the more I come to realise that our care homes are in crisis and our mams, dads, grandparents, aunties, uncles and most probably eventually ourselves are not receiving the care and dignity that they deserve. This is due to staff being over worked and stressed due to inadequate staffing levels.

Currently there are no legal requirements in our care homes for staff to service user ratios. I have personally witnessed 4 staff to look after up to 28 service users all with different needs and challenging behaviours, the carers do their best with what time and resources they have but this is not enough i have witnessed my mam (who is unable to feed herself) sitting in the dining room with her food in front of her and no one assisting to feed her due to lack of staff,

I have also witnessed my mam and other service users sitting soaked in urine as staff have not got around to changing her in time due to their work load. This problem could easily be solved if the companies that run the care homes take on more staff to meet the ever changing needs of the service users, instead of keeping staff to a bare minimum to maximise profits.

Please Sign my petition and get this to the house of commons and get the law changed so our vulnerable relatives get the care and dignity that they deserve.