OKLAHOMA CITY: Skilled nursing homes should stop ordering residents when to go to bed, get up and when to eat and treat the elderly with more respect, says an international report.
New guidance from the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (Nice) follows warnings from regulators about skilled nursing homes which forced dementia sufferers to rise at 4 am to get washed and dressed, in order to fit in with staff rotas.
In other cases, elderly people have been forced to go to bed by 3 pm, while others have been left starving because they needed help to eat.
The new advice for local authorities says skilled nursing homes must do more to treat residents as individuals – and put their needs ahead of those of staff.
It says too many pensioners are being denied proper care and attention, and that skilled nursing homes should allow elderly people to retain their identity…