Care home staff will reportedly be required to undergo compulsory training under Government plans to better protect the elderly.
Government will introduce a new plan that include compulsory training for care home staff to protect the elderly from neglect and abuse.
Health minister Norman Lamb said the lack of basic requirements for training care workers was leaving pensioners in the hands of staff who have “no idea what they are doing”.
Proposals are expected to include national minimum standards for preparing new recruits to work in nursing homes.
Carers will need training as well when washing and dressing elderly people in their own home.
Mr Lamb, the Liberal Democrat care minister, said it was not acceptable that there were no “clear standards of the training that must happen in a care home”.
He said: “I would not want a loved one of mine – or indeed myself – to be cared for by someone who has no training.”
Criminal prosecutions must follow in the “most outrageous” cases of abuse but reforms are needed to improve the quality of care more widely in nursing homes and in pensioners’ own homes, he said.
But Mr Lamb said the new regime must not create “a tick box” culture.
A Department of Health spokesperson told Sky News: “No one should feel that they or their loved ones have to settle for poor quality care.
“Whilst there are many providers that deliver high quality care, more needs to be done to make improvements across the board.
“There are no excuses for failing to keep people safe from abuse or not treating them with kindness, dignity and respect.”
Also, abig importance have training in dispensing medication, promoting dignity, the basics of nutrition and hydration, and using equipment such as hoists and lifts.
The reforms, expected by the end of the month, follow a number of scandals involving the treatment of the elderly.
Similar arrangements could be introduced in hospitals after Prime Minister David Cameron said he wanted to end the ability of nursing assistants to “give hands-on care in a hospital ward with no training at all”.
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