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Chapter 5 Findings
One resident participant recognised that staff try to keep them safe but in so
doing often reduce their capacity and control, in her description of using a
motorised wheelchair:
“I do but unfortunately you know this bit in it ‘we’re responsible for
you’ and don’t go into the walls and they cut down your speed and
the result is I just crawl along and I’m not very happy about that and I
can’t do anything then”
(R01) (Barthel 8)
Further to understanding and knowing a resident person’s abilities it was also
acknowledged that dependence should not be assumed by staff persons:
“Sometimes people come in here and you think there are things that
they cannot do and then some day you will see them doing it and
you realise you are being so hands on for them and there was no
need.”
(H03)
One healthcare assistant acknowledged the importance of knowing what each
resident can and can’t do for themselves:
“She could do some bits, maybe wash her hands and face, but getting
dressed now would be a problem. Her shoulders and joints aren’t the
best.”
(H02) (Barthel 2)
“There are patients that can’t do a lot for themselves but wash all the
top half and some of them put on the top half of the clothes and then
maybe they’re not great on theyir legs so you would have to help
them with their trousers and whatever, but the whole top half they can
do.”
(H02)
One nurse participant acknowledged that it is only by working closely with the
resident that you really understand their abilities:
“You could be looking at them all the time but it’s only when you go
in in the morning and deal with them that you get a feeling of their
abilities and what they can and can’t do and what they are like as a
person.”
(S08)