Home Care Quality Topic Group - 30th November 2009
Carers in Hertfordshire is organising a series of Listening to Carers events across Hertfordshire, in partnership with Hertfordshire County Council’s User and Carer Section and the Local Strategic Partnerships. The purpose of holding these events is, in part, to enable unpaid family carers who are residents of a District Council area:
- to meet together to discuss what is important to them;
- to prioritise the issues that emerge; and
- to agree an action plan with local service commissioners and providers to address those issues.
To-date Listening to Carer events have been held in Hoddesdon (Broxbourne); South Oxhey (Three Rivers); Watford (Watford; Bishops Stortford (East Herts); and Letchworth Garden City (North Herts). Future events are planned for Mill End (Three Rivers); Stevenage and St Albans in February and March 2010.
A total of 119 carers have attended the five events held to-date andat each event carers have raised concerns about the quality of Home Care services. These concerns are being included as priorities in the local action plans and the particular referencesare shown below to illustrate the difficulties which carers and the people whom they care for continue to encounter in relation to these services:
Broxbourne Listening to Carers Event, 3rd April 2009 – 34 Carers attended.
Priorities for Action / Proposed Action / Relevant agenciesHomecare
Carers’ Concerns:Home Care workers are often unable to provide a good service because of the pressures of their employing organisation and because of inadequate training. (One carer brought a anonymous written statement from his wife’s home care worker which he read out at the event – a copy is attached.) / Workforce capacity and training within the Hertfordshire Home Care providers to be monitored. / Adult Care Services as service commissioner.
South Oxhey Listening to Carers Event, 18th June 2009 – 17 carers attended.
Priorities for Action / Proposed Action / Relevant agenciesHome Care
Carers Concerns: Lack of suitable Homecare support in terms of consistency of service, communication, timing of visits, reliability, flexibility, and feedback to users and their families from Homecare agencies. / Involve carers by working alongside managers to improve carer experience.
Provide evidence of poor Homecare service delivery to ACS to support on-going monitoring procedures and routine contract monitoring.
Include Carer Trainers in training homecare staff as routine.
Involve carers in the tendering process as routine – include questions so the agencies can provide evidence of how they would support carers. / Adult Care Services/Homecare agencies
Carers in Hertfordshire
Adult Care Services and Carers in Hertfordshire.
Adult Care Services
Watford Listening to Carers’ Event, 17th September 2009 (draft) – 23 carers attended
Priorities for Action / Proposed Action / Relevant agenciesHome Care
Carers Concerns: The Home Care workers are good but the service is not reliable. This relates to poor time keeping, lack of consistency in staff team membership and missed appointments. Communication when things go wrong is poor. / Involve front line staff (home care workers) in the tendering process.
Regular ‘mystery shopper’ monitoring of service delivery.
Direct Payments as an option – publicise help available from Leonard Cheshire. / Adult Care Services
Adult Care Services
Adult Care Services
East Herts Listening to Carers Event, 30th September 2009 (draft) – 20 carers attended
Priorities for Action / Proposed Action / Relevant agenciesHomecare
Carers’ Concerns:service is inconsistent, home care workers do not always seem clear about their duties or to understand issues such as the timing of medication.
Users and their families often feel uncomfortable about making complaints about a person/service which they depend upon.
Services do not meet the needs of people with dementia – lack of time and lack of an understanding of the needs of people with dementia. / Homecare workers to receive regular training.
Tracking of poor performers
Advocacy services to be readily available to users and carers to support them in making complaints.
Choice about whether they complain to the agency or direct to Adult Care Services as the commissioner.
There should be a specialist home care service for people with dementia who live in the East Herts area similar to those provided elsewhere in the County. / Employing agencies, monitored by Adult Care Services as commissioner.
Adult Care Services
Adult Care Services and the voluntary sector Advocacy agencies, eg. POhWER, Age Concern.
Adult Care Services as commissioner.
Adult Care Services
North Herts Listening to Carers Event, 18th November 2009 (draft) 25 carers attended
Priorities for Action / Proposed Action / Relevant agenciesHome Care
Carers’ Concerns: lack of communication between Home Care agency and carer in respect of changes in service (staffing) which suggests a lack of respect for carers and a failure to acknowledge the importance of keeping them informed about the care which is being provided. / On-going carer awareness training for Home Care staff. / Adult Care Service
Home Care agencies
Carers in Hertfordshire Carer Trainer Unit
Roma Mills, Carers Involvement Manager, November 2009
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Carers in Hertfordshire: Evidence to Home Care Quality Topic Group, 30th November 2009.
Roma Mills, Carers Involvement Manager