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

I agree - ban personal mobile phones for care-workers while on duty …

It doesn’t surprise me, I too regularly see bored uncaring care workers in cafes with their charges trying to talk to them while they grunt at them and scroll on their phones.

This is worrying too and they should supervise their vulnerable and not play Candy Crush Saga.

I imagine there will be many lessons to be learnt from the incident, I am not sure we know what they are yet. You can't have support workers out with vulnerable adults without a mobile phone. Obviously they should not be ignoring the people they work with, if this is what happened.

I see carers/support workers on their phone, putting on their make up anything but supporting those they need to but the public response appears to be to ban people with learning disabilities from public

How far we have come

It’s most probably in their contract btw not to be on their phones whilst in work (or asleep on duty or inviting their mates round to their workplace) a whole load of stuff that might happen with vulnerable people in the community

We don't know what they were doing. I think we need to wait for the case to be investigated.

I agree

they weren't meeting his needs if he was able to pick up and throw a small child who was with his family into a crocodile enclosure

I think mobile phones can be a modern day curse and I don't think there is any justification for looking at them during working time whether your job is looking after children or anything else.

I appreciate that having a mobile brings countless benefits which is why so many people have them and are glued to them. The down side is that people become hooked on constantly looking at their phones to the exclusion of being aware of what is going on around them.

This is yet another tragic incident that could have be avoided.

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…😬

I haven't heard if that happened. I hope it didn't. But I do deeply worry if full risk assessments are done on those with severe learning difficulties and or mental health problems. I've seen some very attentive carers in my local community and some not so.

Really lovely to hear what you are like as a carer Shinamae. And I absolutely agree that it should be known as a professional role with salaries that reflect that.

A resounding YES from me .

When i was working in care i was thoroughly fed up with colleagues being constantly on their phones.
Its dangerous, ignorant, unnecessary, and not fair on people who actually are concentrating on the job.

We have a special school in the next village. I’m a frequent driver there - dogs and grandchildren duties. The children and young people have significant physical and psychological needs. Some of them have three carers walking with them, in the village or round our reservoir.
Homestly, I’ve never seen inattentive on their phone workers

Not so if I go to our shopping mall. Carers doing their own shopping, talking to each other, ignoring their charge (who is often in wheelchair)

theworriedwell

We don't know what they were doing. I think we need to wait for the case to be investigated.

What they weren’t doing was a proper job. Had that been the case (and there was more than one carer) that poor little soul would not have sustained such injury nor his family total horror. Something similar happened at Tate Modern when carers failed to prevent a French child being thrown from a huge height! People need to be rigorously assessed prior to employment and regularly monitored if they are to undertake such responsibility and keep members of the public of all ages safe.

We see them around from time to time. I don’t see them interacting with their charges but if they can’t or don’t communicate then how can they. I do wonder whether the old ways were better when individuals like these were safely in a home somewhere and the public were safer as a result.

Most of the carers we see are other nationals who are probably on a low wage. It can’t be a particularly rewarding job if we are being honest. The phone is a bit of light relief.

Nevertheless this should never have happened. Just like that poor boy at the Tate gallery.

theworriedwell

We don't know what they were doing. I think we need to wait for the case to be investigated.

Witnesses saw the support workers sitting well away from the man with LD and reported they were messing about on their phones. He was left to his own devices.

I have a friend who has an adult daughter with Down’s syndrome. She has had various PA’s over the years and she always insists at interviews that they agree to give her daughter their full support at all times and they are not allowed to use their phones during work hours unless in an emergency.

the caraers need to have phones with them so that they can rng for help if there is an emergency.

There should be a disciplinary procedure for them to use them for any other purpose.

theworriedwell

We don't know what they were doing. I think we need to wait for the case to be investigated.

This, wait and see what the outcome of the enquiry.

I have a young autistic man living in the house opposite to me. I had to complain about the fact that when I work on my front garden he would sometimes be shouting across to me. To be fair to them he wasn’t allowed in the front garden after that. He threw a heavy metal object into his neighbours garden but thankfully it missed where they were sitting. His back garden backs onto a public footpath and they’ve had to put up a six foot fence to stop him shouting at walkers which has obscured what was a lovely view across the fields . I sometimes see him having melt downs in the street when his carers take him out. The house he moved into needed complete renovation when the previous tenants moved out but he moved in without any work being done so I dread to think what state it’s in. I feel so sorry for that poor child that has been injured and for the people who run the zoo. I really don’t think that care in the community is being implemented properly.

Other innocent people are suffering as a result of ‘care in the community’. It’s not acceptable.

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

I really don’t think that care in the community is being implemented properly

neither do I

I have a lovely young adult child with SLD/autism and other complex needs. She should never have been put in supported living

She ended up being described as 'aggressive' and 'violent' by all professionals involved

She was frightened. She was frightened she wasn't being listened to and that her needs were not being met (and it turned out she had a really painful medical condition that hadn't been picked up on)

I can only tell you what I am comfortable to tell you but these care packages are sold are being empowering for those they support and I am not saying this care model doesn't work, as it must work for a lot of people but for my own child an 'old fashioned' care model works better (which costs more money)

People with LDs don't need to be locked away, not allowed out in public etc but please be aware that decisions made about people with complex and/or severe learning disabilities are a cost saving exercise and two untrained/uninterested carers saves your local authority and in this case has let everyone down

... wait and see what the outcome of the enquiry.

I agree.

I have only seen the police and some non-speculative news reports but it occurs to me that if any 30-year-old man can approach a small child, pick him up and thrown him into a crocodile enclose then:

a) the enclosure needs better fencing and

b) the child’s parents weren’t paying full attention either.

Looking at the photo it strikes me that someone holding a small child who wriggles out of their grasp could fall in or even, at a pinch, wriggled under the fencing.