Apple Court aka Fawlty Towers

Apple Court, the residential respite care centre where Marifa sleeps once a week, is quite a lot like Fawlty Towers. Or to be more exact, like Basil Fawlty. Staff are either up people's arses or treat them like dirt. It's easily discernible in the way they talk about different children. For example, one child who sleeps there is the daughter of two GPs. I know them, as aquaintances, and they are not afraid to display their status as a means of ensuring things get done. Sure enough, mention this child's name to staff at Apple Court, and they all but jump to attention. The dog rough parents, and we are counted among those, are the ones who get pissed about -- personal possessions get lost, medication seemingly missed, and so forth.


I seriously doubt staff or management at Apple Court are aware of this phenomenon. Lacking genuinely professional management, and with barely a GCSE between them, reflective practice is to be seen nowhere. This is not a place where personal insight or institutional awareness are valued as personal qualities. Instead, in the tradition of social services, we find collegialism gone mad -- a nice idea among small groups of highly motivated graduate professionals, but not here. Everyone thinks they're the boss. Staff talk in loud voices and literally walk with a swagger. Like Fawlty Towers, there is probably enough material there to fill an entire case conference.