I have been living with and looking after my Mum for 6 months, I have disabilities which limit the tasks I can do. We employed the services of a recommended care company, and they are now changing the care terms and conditions.
I am frustrated that the firm can be so callouse, I understand as a business they are in it for profit, but the care staff themselves don't seem to benifit from the changes and the increased costs, nor do their clients
What I really can't understand is how can they still charge for 28 days notice of cancellation even after a person has passed away.
Things are hard enough without these added burdens.
Has any one else been effected by care companies, and what are your thoughts on the subject.
Sandy
Written by
frog
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Sandy -- I'm sorry to hear you have this aggravation. There is one thing I don't quite understand. Has your mum died, or is she near the end of life and you know there are not enough days left to give 28 days notice? Either way, it seems unfair on the part of the care company to consider the patient's death as a violation of "cancellation" notice. I assume you live in the U.K. Ask people whether there is a government agency you can ask about this.
My predicament is the care staff and times of visit vary, and the last visit I heard Mum saying she was frightened of falling, which is worrying as Mum hardly speaks and to string out a sentence is rare.
Her condition causes tumors in her bones which makes handling harder as she is very fragile.
Therefore I need confidence in the carer who is sent.
Although they are all lovely people some are more aware than others.
I know family can get over cautious about their loved ones, but I am level headed and know when things are not right, and can see the difference between care given by each care person sent.
No matter how difficult it is for your mum to speak, she shows great clarity of understanding her conditions and the consequences of falling. I hope all the carers will be responsive to her needs. Do you have a hospice program on something similar where you live?
Sandy I think there are lots of us who have problems with carers and also the companies themselves.
My husband died in February but we had carers for over a year. We were switched from one to another which was upsetting and the reason was because there was one carer we were unhappy with, we were hapoy with the others. Because I complained about her the council switched us to another company! They shouldn't be using some of these companies but as there are not enough carers what can they do?
During the first week of the new company one of the carers let my husband fall twice! She only wrote it in the notes on the second occasion and said it was because he had sat down with a bump! I should have reported her then but was so stressed out I didn't.
This same person many months later told the Care company that she had hurt her back lifting my husband's feet. What she forgot was she had told me 3 weeks before that she had a bad back from lifting another person! This was confirmed by the carer who had worked with her on the day in question! However because of what she said the Care company refused to allow any carers to lift my husband's feet! Can you imagine how stupid that is? You really couldn't make this up?! So although he was double handled I had to put him to bed alone whilst the two carers stood there and watched! They told me they had never had manual care training!!
I know that new carers were given only 3 hours training in anything before they were sent out to clients because they were not happy about it and constantly complained.
After this episide I rang the council and told them what had happened. They put their own team in. I was grateful for that but my husband finally lost any dignity he had as we had different carers all the time. He could do nothing for himself so it was really upsetting for both of us.
I also had a carer come to sit 3 hours a week to allow me to go out and she fell asleep everytime! Eventually I just stayed in as I didn't dare leave my husband with her. I was about to report it when she left the company, and we then had different carers each week for a few weeks before he went into a Care Home. So again I was worried as there was no continuity of care so I didn't go out. I just had to wait for another carer we had and my 3 hours break a week!
Would like to say the Care Home story was much better but sadly I can't.
What are my thoughts? The government needs to give councils more money to enable them to provide decent care for people. I had to pay for some of the so called care my husband received! God knows what will happen in future if extra money is not provided specifically for care in the community. It is really bad.
I am sorry for your loss, and the trying time you both had to endure.
It is such a stressful time and and all of a sudden a person in need of care slowly loose their dignity and treated like a child when many of these people had such a rich history of events in their lives.
I hope things will change and the goverment will eventually take seriously the care needed by so many people.
I just hope it improves in my lifetime, or I and many others will be part of the chaotic so called care, given by untrained and some times negligent companies.
I think you can get Direct Payments to buy your own care. You employ a carer of your choice and it is paid out of this. Your local council or Social Services should help you with this. It does mean you may have to pay the NI if applicable as you are employing the person but there are a lot of little firms who can do all of this and you won't need to worry.
At least then you will have continuity of care and a say in what times of day you need help.
As far as the notice of 28 days, I agree it is a nonsense. I had to give my brother's housing association 28 days notice after he passed away there. It was made more difficult as he was on housing benefit which stopped the day he died. The family had to top up the amount to cover this period.
I'm sorry to read some of the comments above regarding difficult experiences with care agencies.
I'd be interested to know the reason behind the agency changing their T&C's - Over recent years a number of agencies have merged with larger organisations which can mean different terms for clients.
How do the agency charge? Are you paying in arrears or in advance as this may explain the 28 days.
I can understand it with care homes as they have rooms that need to be cleared and like to ensure families have time to do this.
In any case, I would always appeal to the better nature of the agency at the time on an individual basis. Quite often it comes down to human nature and discretion of the manager at the time
Bluebell99 mentioned direct payments which would apply if supported by the local authority and would certainly advocate that as a way to be more in control of the care. If approaching other agencies just check they are regulated with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) cqc.org.uk/
The care company decided to change the contract, as their staff are on zero hours contracts.
There used to be an allowances for a 48hrs notice to cancel care, now you are charged if care is booked for however many carer visits you have a day,
This means on two calls a day that would be a swift £50 for nothing, even worse through no fault of your own, say you were admitted to hospital for days, at short notice, you would be paying the entire time you were absent, if you didn't give 28 days notice.
The calls are now also to be charged in advance, of care provided.
They have said that they are loosing staff to different sectors or the care industry, as the can't afford to pay them a retainer if people cancel their care.
The carers can work very long hours 7am to 11pm if they are short of staff.
So employ them so they can expect a regular income each month, as staff working such long hours must be totally wrong, as surely when you are tired things must be overlooked or mistakes made.
Often the carers don't get paid for petrol allowance, and timed visits can be altered at the last minute.
I was amazed to find out they also have or had to pay £40 for their uniform, which hopefully gets reimbursed when they leave.
So when a client pays in advance you expect the times to be as you agreed, and with a carer trained to give the level of care required.
Sometimes I think companies forget the duty of care they are required to provide to their often vulnerable clients, and their staff .
It seems making money is more important.
Of course I understand that as a business they are looking to make a profit.
But wouldn't it be nice if they actually kept their feet on the ground and looked at why they opted to be a care service in the first place.
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