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THE HUMBLE JACOB’S cream cracker has been a staple of Irish food cupboards for donkey’s years, and for good reason.
The crackers are a source of comfort and joy for many, whether spread with butter, loaded with cheese, or nibbled on dry. So why are so many people unsatisfied?
A recent thread on Reddit’s Irish forum revealed a general unhappiness with the ‘new’ taste and look of Jacob’s cream crackers, with some users admitting they had switched to – whisper it – Carr’s Water Biscuits.
Dark-Artist wrote:
It doesn’t have that same creamy taste/texture anymore – more of a salty, floury sensation that is really mediocre and puts it on the same level as the rest of the world’s crackers.
LoggedInToJokeAbout agreed:
The’ve gone very biscuity, yes.
And that’s not the only evidence. There have are reports of a different taste stretching as far back as 2012:
In Ireland, the Jacobs brand name is owned by Valeo Foods – a spokesperson for the company told DailyEdge.ie that the recipe had not been changed.
However, in the UK the Jacobs name is owned by United Biscuits, and it’s entirely possible that those crackers could be the source of the unrest we see here.
Don’t give up on your beloved cream crackers yet, folks.
Written by Valerie Loftus and originally published on DailyEdge.ie.
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Staff in NH and hospitals are no longer doing traditional nursing. They are meeting all of HiQA requirements alright , ticking boxes , filling forms. Meantime they don’t have time to care for the patient. Give me a nurse who will care any day of the week ..but they have been strangled by bureaucracy and paperwork. I’d rather see a rusty wheelchair with a happy patient in it than a shiny one with a patient left alone while a nurse fills out forms about them. HiQA has become like the Spanish Inquisition. W have lost something while endeavouring to be correct about everything.
Well said Helen. You hit the nail on the head.In HIQUAs eyes its paperwork and box ticking over real nursing care.
Absolutely right Helen. Hiqa focuses on it’s paper standards not the quality of actual care. Nursing staff have to spend their time filling out forms and covering ass from hiqa. Gone are the days of real care when buses could chat to patients check how they were feeling mentally and physically and care for the whole person. The hiqa standards are so extensive no unit will be fully compliant. I have yet to read a report where all standards had been reach there is always some nit picking. That way they create a job for themselves. In a time of public service employment and cut backs this quango has grown greatly. Money that could have been spent in service provision. It
All we hear about are the bad nursing homes
There are some wonderful nursing homes and my mother is in one of these
The Tara in bray
It is home form home and the staff are caring ,loving and go the full mile
All presided over by the wonderful owner anne Costello
Let’s hear a bit more positive reports
Otherwise people get scared
^^^There is a plug form an nursing home owner if I ever saw one……
But the message in the post is correct. There are allot of really good Nursing Homes out there. Unfortunately we only hear the horror stories.
Also instead of putting all the blame on the Director of Nursing/Matron(as HIQUA seem to do) the nursing home owners must be held accountable also.
@Phyllis
Care staff are not allowed to ‘care’ as they would
like to as they have targets,paperwork,no beds and middle
managers to deal with.Nobody goes into nursing wanting to
take patients around a hospital on commodes.
My grandad has been in a nursing home for almost 2 years due to Alzheimers it would be impossible to care for him at home. The work the nurses and carers do is truly commendable, due to budget cuts and pencil pushers demanding paperwork etc. it is impossible for the staff to care for each individual patient that the way they would want to and should be cared for!
I visit my grandad twice a week both times when he’s getting one of his meals, the staff are running back and forth trying to make sure each patient has a meal, there are 12 patients in my grandfathers ward that can’t feed themselves my grandad included there will be max 2 nurses on duty and 3-4 carers, they are doing their best in stretched situations.
Reports like this annoy me, they cost money and don’t help anyone, often make it appear that residential staff don’t care and fail to help anyone!
Those pen pushers and whoever makes the decisions to cut back would want to realise if they are lucky to reach old age that’s what’s ahead for them.
@Row-Sheen: So what are we to do? Are you suggesting we should ignore reports of elder abuse? Really? What if it were you being wheeled around with your underwear down? Just because you have had a good experience does not mean that others have had and it is critical to highlight incidences of this nature so as to acknowledge that they are unacceptable.
What has happened to ‘care staff’ that allows them to treat their patients in this awful manner :(
Places don’t have enough staff too manage?
Few years in a nursing home costs hundreds of thousands of Euro and the state pays for it. The more old people the greater the strain on the system.
What do you suggest then, euthanasia? No matter what the cost to the state for their accommodation, the cost of preserving their dignity is zero. These are the people who gave us the state to begin with.
@David Burke the HSE nursing homes are understaffed, too much emphasis on forms and bureaucratic nonsense which results in time taken from the nurses in providing care to the residents.
With regard to payment I am afraid that you are incorrect in assuming that the state picks up the tab. The HSE will recoup as much as they can from the patient. After assessment the HSE will take 80℅ of the weekly pension plus 7.5℅ per annum of any assets held. You are allowed to keep the first €36,000. The HSE will then provide a loan to cover the balance which is recouped upon your death.
Eg: savings €36,000 (not counted)
Value of assets €100,000
Pension €248 pw
248 x 80% = 198.40
100,000 x 7.5℅ = 7500/12 = 625
625 + 198.40 = a weekly contribution of €823.40
I know this as I was in the unenviable position of contemplating this type of care for my terminally ill mother. I have since decided to care for her at home under the palliative care system.
http://www.hse.ie/eng/services/list/4/olderpeople/nhss/nhss.html#fin
Yet another appalling indictment of the treatment of the most vulnerable. Will anybody be held to account for this? I very much doubt it.
I think the nurse in question will…
These problems and issues are a direct result of cuts and staff shortages. Before the recession, on a 31 patient ward, there were 4 staff nurses and 2 care assistants. Now there are 2 staff nurses and 1 care assistant. How are they expected to feed the dependant patients at meal times AND do the drug round at the same time when there is no staff. Nurses are doing their best and all they receive from from HIQA is criticism instead of a ‘we know you’re stretched to the limits but we know you’re doing the best you can’.
The drive to the bottom for costs is behind this. Owners have to absorb increasing costs to maintain their profit levels and think they can do so by cutting staff costs. A real acandal is the homecare system where staff t&c’s are being hacked to boost profits while taking in donations of food from multi national shops that are wholly unsuitable for their clients. Anything to save another euro by those on already bloated, unjustified salaries
have your say