Having worked in such homes as Reynolds has described, I too was appalled by the lack of care given by staff. I cared for one woman who they said to me 'watch her, she'll bite and pinch you'. Went in to help the woman eat her dinner, and yes, she called me a bitch and tried to pinch me. So I held her hands, looked her in the eye and said to her 'now, what have I done to deserve that? I've brought you your tea, here'. And I made the EFFORT to listen to her (she found speech really hard), gave her a drink when she needed one, chatted to her, and she ate her dinner. And I left her and she was smiling, and when I came out all the other care assistants were going 'did she really eat all that? She never normally eats anything'. All it takes is a bit of human compassion. Later I found that the reason the girls were carers there was becuase they had come from overseas and were trying to get in to train as nurses here. But their English was so poor that none of the old people could understand them. In fact, half the staff couldn't even understand ME, and I speak very good (but not so posh that I am unintelligible!) English. Grr. Couldn't do that job any more. I thoroughly vetted the place where my grandparents live now. People who are nice who work in care homes are worth their weight in gold.