I felt a similar dread when earlier this year, my grandad had to go into a home. We looked around a few for him, ranging from a small chaotic cheap home, to a large generic, bland type, and then finally a small-medium attractive building with large landscaped garden, some chatty inhabitants, a caring senior nurse and advanced nutritionally aware cooking programs. We chose the latter and my granddad was there for a month or so before he died. I am certain he would not have been unhappy there however he was lucky to have a) enough money for a reasonably expensive home, and b) family to take enough time to choose a good one. In cases of neglect / shoddy care, the family (if there is one) must take a lot of the blame for not better picking, and monitoring the care given to their loved ones. As to the people in caring - most of the homes we saw all employed immigrant workers, presumably for reasons of cost and availability.