Southern Cross Healthcare Collapse: Views from the Inside

Last week, Southern Cross and its landlords agreed that the company will forfeit operations of nearly 350 out of its industry-leading 752 care homes across the UK. Eulogy spoke to various people in the care industry to find out what the impact will be.

Becky Trengove (Daughter of former Southern Cross resident):

“My father had prostate cancer and dementia…the prostate cancer had metastasised to his spine, so he was literally walking one day and not the next. We took him to the hospital, but there wasn’t much they could do. He was discharged on the continuing health criteria, so we moved him to Bristol.

“I went down there to move him in, the furniture was all ripped and torn, so we had to go buy him new furniture. We had to spend £2,000 on chairs in the first week. They didn’t have a working DVD player anywhere. It’s obvious that they haven’t got the money to replace anything. On the weekends, they would have one cleaner on who was expected to clean the entire building: all 35 rooms, or whatever. My dad’s room was always smelly, and it was always dirty. I would say it was from his colostomy problem, but the room he’s in now doesn’t smell. The food was probably nutritionally OK, but I wouldn’t have eaten it.

“The home my dad was in was rated three stars, which is the highest rating you could get. But the building itself was so old; it wasn’t really suitable to be a home in the first place because it was so old. It was an old farmhouse. The homes that they know are old, they’ll just close them.

“The final straw was when we were actually paying one of his carers who used to look after him when he was home to come in to check on him. It was about 9 pm, and she had been looking at the newspaper with him – because of his dementia that was one of the things you could still do. It came time for her to leave, and she went just through the door and to the lift, so we’re talking no more than 30 seconds time, and she realised she had left her keys back in the room. So she went back to the room to get them, and they had turned off the lights and locked his door and left him in the dark. It was reported as a safeguarding issue. But he didn’t want to go to bed. Why didn’t they just leave the door open and come back in half an hour?
 
“He’s moved to a home in Salisbury. I feel sorry for all the staff at Southern Cross. It’s like any job – if you get really disillusioned with your job, it’s going to have a knock on effect on the residents.”

Ann Mitchell (Spokesperson of Unison):

“The current situation with the Southern Cross Crisis left a big question mark in the industry of care.

The situation with further employment is not certain, however 3000 jobs are planned to be cut. It has been said that the money spent on carers will be also cut. Since the carers already work for minimum wage, the only legal way to cut their wages would be by reducing the working hours. This clearly leaves the residents in a vulnerable position because they will not get sufficient care with the right qualifications. There is a fear that private companies will be only profit-oriented and take advantage of the property boom. This means that the residents are left out of the equation.

“The crisis in Southern Cross alarmed the entire sector of care; a lot of smaller companies are now feeling insecure about their future. The current demographic situation, with our ageing population, requires the provision of a proper care system.

The Southern Cross crisis is part of a long term problem, and the trend doesn’t look optimistic – social services are being cut, payments are being frozen. The question is: when there’s nothing left for private companies to squeeze from the care houses, what will then happen to the residents? Because we simply cannot allow the residents to suffer, the Government will have to intervene in order to improve the situation. Most likely the tax payers will have to pick up the bill.”

Christine Shaw (Help the Hospices):

“Our organization is not directly connected to the Southern Cross, but the crisis demonstrates the weakness of the health sector that specializes in care for the elderly and raises, of course, a great concern for all of us. It is a part of a much wider debate: how we are looking after our older population in general. Even though the crisis is happening within Southern Cross, it certainly reveals challenges for everyone.

Concerning the fact that there have been many complaints about the living conditions in Southern Cross care houses, we can only say that in big organizations it depends on the individual house, and that it is impossible to generalize. But obviously helping the residents and providing the best care should be top priority.”

Justin Bowden (GMB National Officer):

“The crisis of Southern Cross is still unresolved that’s why we are not sure yet how the situation will develop. There are however 2 possibilities: either care homes will be relocated or closed. If the houses will be closed this will make the carers unemployed and cause premature death of the residents due to stress, which is the worst thing. Another option – transferring the homes to other companies – will be a very time consuming and tedious process. At the moment we are waiting for Government’s resolution.”

"The food was probably nutritionally OK, but I wouldn't have eaten it."
  - Becky Trengove

"I feel sorry for all of the staff at Southern Cross. It's like any job - if you get really disillusioned with your job, it's going to have a knock-on effect on the customers - in this case, the residents."
  - Becky Trengove

"The question is: when there's nothing left for private companies to squeeze from the care houses, what will then happen to the residents?"
 - Ann Mitchell, Unison Spokesperson

" This crisis is part of a much wider debate: how we are looking after our older population in general."
  - Christine Shaw, Help the Hospices