Home care services 'need re-think', report claims

Councils need to change how they organise home care services in order to respond more sensitively to people's needs, a report has claimed.

The 'Time to Care?' report by the Commission for Social Care Inspection found that many people claimed that their care workers were too rushed and did not have time to get to know them and build up a relationship of trust.

The report said that this was "de-motivating" for both older people and their carers.

The report also found that home care services often had "serious problems" in recruiting, training and retraining good quality staff.

It said that younger people had little incentive to work in the care industry, finding better wages working in local supermarkets.

The '15 minute slot' model of service - where a care worker is allotted only a few minutes to get a person up, washed and dressed before they are out of the door and on to the next person - was criticised in the report as "undignified and unsafe."

The report also said that councils also concentrated services on people with the most severe needs, meaning that many other people would benefit from home care services did not do so.

The number of people receiving council-funded home care services has been falling since the 1990's, even though the older population has risen.

In 1992, over 500,000 households received funded home care.

By 2005, this number had dropped to just 354,500 households.

Dame Denise Platt, Chair of the Commission, said: "This report paints a mixed picture of the quality of home care. It is critical that those who commission and provide home care services listen to what people say they want and value.

"Failure to listen to what people really need, and respond to this, results in missed opportunities to promote independence and to help people live full and rewarding lives. At worst, it can also result in services that do not respect people's rights and dignity.

"As the numbers of older people grow, councils must reshape services to support people living at home with more personalised care. Doing more of the same will not be enough."

Paul Snell, CSCI's Chief Inspector, added: "Social care can transform lives, but we do need to find new ways of organising services so that people have a better range of choices."

(KMcA/EF)