Should care workers be banned from using mobile phones following 3 yr old being thrown in crocodile pit by man with severe learning difficulties

If policies and procedures are in place (which they should be) then there will have been a lot of thought put into where it was safe and practical to take someone, bearing in mind their interests and behaviours.
There would be possibly signs that a person was becoming agitated, or was overwhelmed, and the contingency plan put into action.

Hard to notice with one's head stuck in a phone.

Possibly there are multiple failures in procedures, from management, down.

I suppose we'll know more as the facts become known.

MissAdventure

It's simply a mattet of making conversation with the person you're supporting.
Not difficult, no special training, just talk to them!!!

The problem is that mobile phones have now been around so long that a whole cohort of people have grown-up glued to their phones and unable to conduct a conversation.

You get this complaint coming from employers - that young staff do not know how to communicate with each other, let alone customers and clients. I also think that there is a need to review the way we care for severely mentally disabled people.

Currently there is a constant pressure to 'help them live normal lives', shove them out in the community, have them living alone in flats and houses. I know that the main reason for this is financial but it is always wrapped in welfare waffle.

We do not yet know what this man's problems were, but if it was known that he was in the habit of picking up objects and throwing them or otherwise was prone to violent actions, then the uestion must arise as to whether this zoo was a suitable place to take him. It was uite some way from where he lived and a hire car was needed to transport him. Why was this particular venue chosen?

If the Police have taken the phones, as part of the investigation, they will be able to verify phone usage around the time of the incident.

Hope you’re ok MOnica

DM reporting the two carers took their charge, the perpetrator to their car. Their attempts to drive off were reported to have been stopped by staff from the venue. If this is accurate, I hope charges follow. Neglect of duty, fleeing a crime scene, who know but I imagine the police will find an appropriate charge

I have just wasted an unnecessary 3 days in hospital. During that time, the only phone shaped devices i saw were being used for medical purposes, so I assume were hospital euipment and stayed on site.

I find it disgusting when i am admitted to care in hospital to see nurses or doctors all sanitary, sterile and germ free using their phones and who knows where the phone has been...cafeteria, bedroom, pub, toilet. Yuk. Should be banned. Phones are disgusting with germs.

Shinamae

Most of you know I’m a carer and I work in a high dementia care home
Before that, I did work with people with learning disabilities and I remember I took one lady to a hospital appointmentand a member of staff came over to me and she said you’re the first person I’ve seen who actually talks to the person they’re supporting
And I see now regularly on the bus a man who’s obviously got learning difficulties and his carer doesn’t say a word to him on the journey, It’s very sad……
Most Care work is very poorly paid. I’ve been in care now over 20 years and I’ve always been on minimum wage but I’m lucky because I really enjoy my job but with so few jobs around people take what they can get. I see really young people doing support Work and I wouldn’t have dreamt of doing that when I was there Age but when I was looking for work, there were plenty of jobs around in fact you could leave a job one day and be starting on a new job the next day and I actually did that I was working in the chemist and a man came in and asked me for French letters (I was 15. and very naive, about the only time I was)of course I didn’t know what that was. I was only 15 Mrs Parsley who was another assistant came out and said it was okay Gail I’ll take care of that so lunchtime came and I went up to Woolworths and I started in Woolworths the following week no CV no references nothing at all.
It’s no excuse I know, but it is a fact and I really think caring should be a profession and not looked on as a lowly career because that’s how it is looked at by many people…😬

Bless you and your life and duty Shinamae

Before we attack the parents, the walkway is pretty always fairly crowded and people are close together. even if you are actually holding your child's hand, it would be possible to swoop and throw before you have time to react, because you are trusting that the person next to you is normal and sane.

It is possible that the noise and fidgeting of a toddler set him off, but if he is volatile or that sensitive, he should not have been in a public session, but an organised SEN session. However, everyone is low risk until they do something.

At my care home we have to leave phones in our lockers along with bags and personal possessions.

Kate22

I could not agree more re phones, which other job when one is responsible for the safety of a vulnerable person is one allowed to sit on ones phone all day? I’ve started looking away when I see people out with their carers because I’m so infuriated by the way the are frequently ignored. But it’s management who need to change the rules .

The rules will be there, but unless anyone complains about their behaviour then nothing will change.

MissAdventure

That is literally all it takes.
A managet that can take a strong stand against using personal phones, apart from during breaks.

Of course that would mean the manager also following the rules...

Spot on, MissAdventure. I have to say it is the carers in my Mum's home who tend to be on their phones, especially if they are on 1 to 1 duties. The Nurses are always busy and proactive. The Carers in that particular home really have no excuse of low pay as we pay a premium in fees (or so we are told) to attract the best staff with longevity of service. To be fair, it isn't all the staff, there are some who are really fantastic but it must be difficult for those who work really hard engaging with their charges to watch those whose heart really isn't in it.

That is literally all it takes.
A managet that can take a strong stand against using personal phones, apart from during breaks.

Of course that would mean the manager also following the rules...

I could not agree more re phones, which other job when one is responsible for the safety of a vulnerable person is one allowed to sit on ones phone all day? I’ve started looking away when I see people out with their carers because I’m so infuriated by the way the are frequently ignored. But it’s management who need to change the rules .

As a Senior Support Worker for adults with learning disabilities can I just say most Carers care deeply for the people they support. Unfortunately technology has caught up with the caring profession and while the public thinks Carers are on their mobile phones they are actually using professional devices to document events as they happen. Most Carers are not happy with this as it takes away the personal centred care we provide to the person we sopport

Of course carers need to have phones with them for emergencies.
I've no idea what it says in a carer's contract, but using a phone for personal reasons must be a no-no.
For many years, I have been a volunteer befriender. Being out and about with a child whose parent(s) have entrusted him/her to the volunteer, you keep your eye on that child ALl the time you're with them, But you have your phone (not your private one) with you just in case

Maremia

Perhaps some of the problems listed upthread come about because the jobs are not well paid, and if staff are let go, there will be no-one to replace them.

Then they will loose their license to operate. And then what🤷‍♀️
The councils can’t help. They don’t have the facilities or the money.
This is where we are because successive governments have failed to recognise this situation.

welbeck

The man who threw the child from the Tate gallery was not accompanied by careworkers.
He was alone.

If that's true it's even more alarming as he had told staff he wanted to hurt and kill someone and had attacked nurses who were looking after him. So he's kept in a secure unit but allowed out unsupervised. Makes no sense whatsoever to me.

The man who threw the child from the Tate gallery was not accompanied by careworkers.
He was alone.

Perhaps some of the problems listed upthread come about because the jobs are not well paid, and if staff are let go, there will be no-one to replace them.

I often travelled around Glasgow by bus, and saw many people out with carers, and sadly the phone scrollers outnumbered those who appeared to be engaging with their companions.
One day, a lady and her carer boarded at a hospital, where she had obviously been for a gynaecology appointment, and the carer proceeded to provide a detailed account of what had taken place at the appointment on her phone, presumably to a colleague, and loudly enough for all around to hear. She was most unpleasant when I told her it was inappropriate to be broadcasting such information, and got off the bus at the next stop.
What was interesting was that none of the other passemgers either agreed or disagreed with me, all choosing to look the other way.

Good idea. My ds is a teacher of some 20 odd years. He teaches a class of late teens with SLD, severe learning difficulties, and there are no phones in the classroom allowed to be switched on by him or his teaching assistants. In an emergency they can switch them on if the other means of communication have failed. Thereby full concentration on his students is achieved and no members of staff have suffered by not having their phones on for a few hours!

Care workers should not be allowed personal mobiles while on duty. The argument that they too might need to be contacted on duty by a member of their own family is easily dealt with by care agencies issuing a number careworkers' families can call in emergency, and then the agency can contact the careworker in question on the work phone.
When my mother had carers coming into the home (my home as she lived with me) three times a day, I sometimes heard a careworker holding a conversation with a family member and stopped it immediately for two reasons - unprofessional, and in another language. Unfortunately most careworkers in the London area at least, do not speak English as their first language so if they're holding conversations with another careworker in the situation where the client requires two carers, or speaking to a family member, there's another language pervading the air and this makes clients feel extremely vulnerable. +

I agree phone use should be restricted to work associated issues but I also feel that people who are likely to pose a risk to the public should not be taken out on excursions to public places. It may be an unpopular opinion but it seems to me we have developed an attitude that anyone should be able to have access to anywhere. This horrible incident proves the folly of this irresponsible view. Some people are simply too dangerous.

I do hope the said carers will receive some kind of disciplinary actions. Hopefully not still on the job !
They clearly were not doing what they were paid for no matter what the hourly rate was.
Phones should be banned whilst on the job except for an emergency.

Her phone- Ring ring!!!