Hello
Can some one please advise, if council is allowed to provide care through an agency who does not have CQC rating. When asked in review meeting, they said they are going to 'scrutinise' if any mishaps. what are our rights as parents of our son who is 32 and has Autism with severe learning difficulties. We are worried as carers do not have any experience although they claim to have
Good morning, I understand your concerns fully. I will say.. do as much research as you possibly can, check reviews, ask questions.. many questions! Don’t accept anything you are not comfortable with. I would suggest finding your own care for your son yourself, take your time, ask around your local area, ask for recommendations, they are many unscrupulous companies around who are unfortunately just after money. I’ve had first hand experience of this with my brother who is autistic and has Down’s syndrome. Please feel free to contact me if I can help in any way, best wishes. Zoe
Thank you very much . I would very much like to speak to you in more detail, if i can know your contact. We had direct payments for a long time but for limited hours. Panel agreed a few months ago to extend his hours of care in to evenings. We haven't been able to find another carer ourselves , therefore asked Cambridge council to provide care through arranged payments. We retained PA for morning hours through direct payment
Now a care agency started working for past 2 months. I haven't checked before hand about CQC status, but found that it is still in process. My main concern is that carers haven't got experience , therefore asked for a review meeting as his behaviours were getting worse since . Council says not to worry about CQC and that they will 'scrutinise' if anything happens. We have no option except to agree for another month to see how it goes
Can I opt out of arranged care at this point or are we stuck with care agency and council (seriously looking for a carer again just in case we can go back to direct payments for all the time)
He is your son, and yes of course you can opt out at any time of the care they have arranged. Unfortunately most of the people employed at some of these agencies have no experience first hand of dealing with people with complex issues. I would voice your concerns.. loudly! Every company in the care business should be fully registered and regulated by CQC. But, unfortunately even that doesn’t guarantee a quality of care your son deserves. I’ve found you really need to be on top of everything. Anything you are not 100% happy with, voice your concerns and keep voicing them! I’ve taken full care of my brother, he lives with me now as it’s the only way I know he’s not going to be mistreated again. If I can help or just be someone you can chat with I’m here! Mencap have been great so it’s well worth ringing their helpline. Best wishes, Zoe
what sort of care? If it’s a care home or supported living I thought it had to be registered with CQC by law?
Like many parents here we are carefully looking at options in to future, which is another worry. He is currently still living with us, so care at home
One of the options is to move to neighbouring boroughs as not much care options in Cambridge. we will be grateful for any advise from parents on this forum as you can all understand better
you don’t need to move. My son has just moved to residential care in a different county. I know LA’s like to place in the area the parents live. My argument is that that’s the area we, his parents live. Our son shouldn’t be limited to live where we pay council tax. There was absolutely nothing suitable in our area either. You just have to look around, we looked at places over the whole country, and be prepared to fight for it.
hello
Ok we started by looking ourselves . We looked at the bigger groups like Voyage Care, Dolphin homes, Achieve together, The priory Group, Cygnet healthcare, Sequence care, Mencap etc.
I looked at the web sites and looked at which services would suit his needs. I ruled some out on their size or their location. My son needed somewhere fairly small, quite rural, preferably near the seaside, somewhere safe so if he ran he wouldn’t get hit by a car or something. Once I had a shortlist I emailed and if they had vacancies I arranged to visit.
A few months into our search the local authority placement service became involved and helped. They put all our requirements into their system and sent out a pen picture of our son. Once we’d settled on a place, we visited. Then they went to his college (he was at residential college) and spent the day with him to assess him. Once they were sure they could meet his needs they made an offer. Then they went back and forth regarding funding. It’s a very expensive placement due to his needs but all was finally agreed and he moved in in September x
My brothers care journey
Residential care
adult social care lawyer
Care providers being allowed to continue to fail & aided by Social workers 
My son has been badly let down by Adult services 
