Private firm brought in to handle Cumbria home care

A PRIVATE firm has been brought in to carry out home care to people in areas of Furness. Cumbria County Council has brought in Ulverston-based Lakeland Care to provide home visits for people needing adult social care across Askam, Ireleth and Kirkby.

Services were originally carried out by the county council’s Cumbria Care team, but providers were switched due to limited availability of Cumbria Care staff at certain times during the day.

A spokesman for Cumbria County Council admitted some of the adults who receive social care and their families may not have been informed of the changes.

He said there may also have been delays in the switchover of patient records due to staffing absence and the shootings in West Cumbria last Wednesday.

The switchover has taken place within the last two weeks.

A spokesman for Cumbria County Council said: “Cumbria Care was unable to meet the needs of service users in the area due an unavailability of staff.

“To meet these needs a private care provider was brought in – this is a normal procedure and has been done many times before.

“It is best practice to use a provider that can cover the needs of the service users throughout the day. This allows consistency for the person needing care and is what has happened in this case.

“We are always reviewing our care packages to meet people’s needs and the level of care for these people will be positively affected as is will allow a wider cover of care. The carers from Cumbria Care have had alternative work made available to them.”

There have been no job losses as a result of the switchover. Cumbria Care employees, who carried out the visits worked on a contractual basis.