Borders carers up in arms at contracts

THE general manager of the region’s largest charitable provider of home care says she is “extremely disappointed” that the contracts for the external delivery of the service have been awarded to two private companies based outwith the region.

Karen Paterson of Selkirk-based Borders Caring Services (BCS) – formerly Crossroads – spoke out after the announcement yesterday that SBC had rejected her organisation’s bid and, instead, awarded the work to firms based in Livingston and Alloa.

Other local providers say their staff are “up in arms” at having been overlooked in favour of out-of-region companies.

The new contracts are due to take effect on May 11.

BCS, which currrently provides 1,700 hours a week of care in Galashiels, Selkirk, Hawick and Peeblesshire, plus a small amount in Kelso, is not the only local operator to lose out.

Others include Kelso-based Nightingales (which deliver 550 home care hours a week in Kelso), the Hawick Care Company (400 hours in the Hawick area), Helping Hands (160 hours in Peebles) and Seton from Duns (120 hours in Berwickshire).

At present, SBC’s in-house team of mainly female home carers delivers 10,000 hours a week, while the external operators provide about 3,000 hours.

The tendering process arose from SBC’s decision to increase the amount of hours it purchases from the private sector from around a third to a half.

The council’s social work budget assumes savings of more than £250,000 across the next three financial years as a result of the switch.

Andrew Lowe, SBC’s director of social work, confirmed the new contract for Hawick, Kelso and Berwickshire has been awarded to Choices Community Care Services, which has its headquarters in Livingston, West Lothian.

The contract for the central Borders and Tweeddale (Peeblesshire) areas has gone to Independent Living Services (ILS), based in Alloa, Clackmannanshire.

Mr Lowe said the purpose of the tendering exercise had been to “secure high-quality services at the best price to the council”.

Asked about the value of the contracts, Mr Lowe told TheSouthern: “That will be dependent on the level of need of Borders residents over the contract period.

“The two successful bidders will initially provide 3,051 hours between them and this will incrementally grow over three years with new referrals until they have 50 per cent of the work: more than 5,000 hours.

“We have had a very good relationship with the current external providers and appreciate the services they have delivered and each has been asked to operate on a business-as-usual basis until the point of transfer, which will likely occur in May once the new providers are up and ready to go.”

Mr Lowe said he had written to all clients who receive external services and told them they will be kept informed during the changeover.

He said most staff employed by the current providers would have an automatic right to transfer [to the successful bidders] on their existing terms and conditions.

Mrs Paterson told us: “As a local charity which has been providing high-quality home care services to SBC for 13 years, we are extremely disappointed these contracts have been awarded to two national private companies.

Our main priority now is to ensure a smooth transition for any services users and care staff who may transfer, and we will co-operate with both SBC and the companies to make this happen.”

But Vivienne Thomas, director of Nightingales, said all of her 32 carers, who had built strong and trusting relationships with clients, were “up in arms” at the decision.

“They are angry at this outcome and I doubt that few, if any, will want to transfer to a new provider selected purely on the basis of cost,” she said.

Mrs Thomas claimed the bids had been evaluated 60 per cent on quality of service, and 40 per cent on cost.

“That is frankly ridiculous for a council which says it cares about the quality of home care,” she continued. “It should be 95 per cent quality and the timescale for the transition (May 11} is ridiculous.

“If, as I suspect, many home carers will not wish to transfer to the successful bidders, the companies will have a major task recruiting, carrying out Disclosure Scotland checks on staff and establishing a presence here in that time.”

Paul Hughes, regional manager for ILS, said: “We are delighted to have been successful in this major tender award, and will be working closely with the council and other stakeholders to ensure a smooth transfer of services. We offer absolute reassurance that there will be no disruption to existing care provision.”

Despite repeated attempts yesterday, TheSouthern was unable to elicit any comment from Choices Community Care Services Ltd which claims on its website to be the largest independent provider of care services in the Borders.