Why isn’t elderly care at home meeting basic needs?

Recently a relative needed home care visits. This was organised by social services but we were given a list of providers that we looked at but obviously didn’t know anything about them. We were told only 1 has someone in this area so we had no choice. They were supposed to do 3 visits a day,7am, 12.30pm and 7pm. They had a signing in sheet that made interesting reading every time we went to visit. Luckily my relative could still use the phone by the side of the bed and would phone to tell me ‘no-one has come yet,its 9.30am not up yet or had breakfast’. We then had to dash to help her,difficult when you live a distance away and you work. The sheet next time you visited would be filled in saying they had been when they clearly hadn’t! I started to fill in the sheet myself saying no one has been to then find the sheet was replaced with a new one so no one would see my comments. And yes i did try to phone the agency but they never answered the phone. Speaking to social services they said no one has complained before! Prob because relatives didn’t know visits were missed out. She was also supposed to have a half hour visit once a week for assisted bathing,this never happened in the 10 weeks she needed care.Fortunately she was soon well enough to cope on her own but I dread to think what some of these older people have to cope with from these so called caring agencies. Having recently had to go looking at care homes for my mom in law I was mortified at some of the states of the homes on the social services list. You could smell some of them before the staff opened the door. One staff member of a care home showed us a room with brown stains on the wallpaper 6″ from the top of the bed. When i asked what that was she replied’ dirty b****r used to wipe his poo on the wall’!. Is this room going to be redecorated? I asked.No was the reply.This care home had a ‘good’report! With the lack of interaction of the staff, (they were all sitting chatting in the dining room, while the residents were sat in 2 rooms watching tele,women in 1 room,men in another,no other activities around,2 old ladies asked if i could take them to the toilet ,they had been asking for someone to come to them and no one had,told staff and they said’ always asking to go those pair’) no activities planned, except we do their nails once a month, we didn’t take this placement at £450 per week! Don’t dispair though,we pay £525 a week for an excellent home with loads of staff on duty day and night, daily activities aimed at the residents interests, pots of tea when we visit and caring staff who make sure they find out all about mom in laws life so they can remind her about past events. There are good agencies and homes out there but you have to visit a lot of homes that you wouldn’t put your dog in before you find the ‘1’ for your relative.

My aunt is 99 with fairly severe dementia, arthritis, diabetes and double incontinence. She lives at hom with her daughter and myself. She has to be hoisted from her wheelchair to bed which her daughter can’t do safely, so an agency come 4 times a day. Most of the ladies are concientious but do not have time to do more than the basics. They should come at 8-12-4&8 to get her out of bed,wash and dress her, change her incontinence pads and put her to bed. Her daughter does the housework, cooking and washing. She had a problem with a carer who was very rough and almost broke her wrist but the agency sorted it our immediately and that lady never visits vulnerable clients. They usually come within 30 minutes of the time requested. But we wanted 9 o’clock at night and was told they didn’t work that late. If aunty has an incontinence accident they used to make an extra visit. Now she has to pay for that. Yesterday she messed herself all over the wheelchair and her clothes. Her daughter cannot get her out of the chair so she had to wait like that for an hour. If she messes the bed at night they won’t come out so she lies for hours in a dirty bed. Luckily these incidents don’t happen very often. If we complain one of the ladies get agressive and challenge us even accusing us of hurting aunty.Having said all of that, after reading other people’s comments we’re very lucky.

To be fair the picture is not all gloomy so don’t be afraid to ask for help. We are both in late eighties and I was struggling but when my husband was in hospital help was OFFERED for when he came out. We had a free six week assessment, and then offered help in the morning to shower and dress my husband and a few minutes at night to prepare him for bed. The Carers are very good indeed and I appreciate what they do. They provide a welcome few minutes of outside company for me as well as I cannot leave my spouse for long. I have to pay part of the cost but it is nearly covered by Attendance Allowance. Although I understand there are about five independent companies in the area I was not offered choice of provider or times and a variety of different people come, not always exactly to the specified time due to traffic and previous commitments but they try. As I have previously worked in this field I am not at all sure that the private sector which has to make a profit, is as good as an integrated public service. Several cars and carers can be in one area at the same time and choice was never an issue. I can only see disadvantages and no advantages to the privatisation of this service. The Cares are poorly paid and have to run a car which in this rural area is a big cost, They even have to pay for their uniforms and stationery and mandatory training, such as it is, is in their own time. However I am lucky – no horror stories.