Are People Getting The Care They Need?

Disillusioned home carers launched a scathing attack on their employer Fife Council this week, expressing grave concerns over the state of the home care service.

The carers claim the service is short-staffed and struggling to cope with an ever-increasing workload, leading the local authority to resort to using inadequately trained agency staff to fill the gaps.

One home carer, who did not want to be named, said: “To our knowledge there are long waiting lists for individuals in the community who require input from our service. More and more people are being cared for in the community but they have to wait for lengthy periods before receiving the necessary care.

“We understand referrals still arrive every day but unfortunately there is no allocation of carers, mainly due to lack of staff, heavy workloads, an inadequate budget and mismanaged funds. Fife Council is currently not employing new home carers, instead preferring to tender the work to agencies who employ some staff who are untrained in the use of standard equipment.”

The group of carers said changes to their contracts and wages as a result of the Council’s new pay and grading system had had a knock-on effect on the service provided. They stated: “We feel all tax payers should be aware of what is happening. As home carers we have become very disillusioned over the past few years. It does not affect the standard of our work or the care we provide, however, we are unsure about the long-term plans of this Council.”

Fife Council defended its use of agency staff, stating all carers had to meet a high standard of training. Social work service senior manager John Alexander said: “Where there is a requirement to provide cover to meet essential need, on a short-term basis or at short notice, there is sometimes a need to engage independent care agencies.

“All such care agencies are registered with the Care Commission and are required to meet rigorous standards of service delivery to achieve their registration.” Mr Alexander said the service employs over 1500 carers, delivering essential services to around 6000 service users across the Kingdom.

Over the past year 110 new home carers have been recruited and there are currently 11 carers attending induction training to commence work within the next two weeks. The Council could not give figures for the number of home care agency staff it has used over the past year, or the frequency of their use.

Mr Alexander added: “The social work service has recently completed a rigorous review of its home care function and has redesigned its services to further improve on its capacity to deliver high-quality, essential care and support to our many service users. The review has also focused on ensuring that home care services deliver the best possible value for money for the people of Fife.”