Borders community care forum in home care survey appeal

The Borders Voluntary Community Care Forum (BVCCF) is currently carrying out a survey of all those who receive a home care service through the local authority, including services provided by independent home care providers as well as the social work department’s own in-house home care service.

It is almost a year since Scottish Borders Council’s social work services undertook a review of home care and put out to tender for 50 per cent of the service. This resulted in two new companies coming to the region to provide the service as local providers failed to win the contracts.

This reprovisioning has been controversial and some concerns have been raised about the quality and consistency of both the in-house and independently provided home care service.

In response to these concerns, the social work department has asked the BVCCF to carry out an independent survey looking into the quality of all the home care services and finding out whether people think that the service has improved, deteriorated or stayed the same.

The forum welcomes the opportunity to conduct this survey as it is essential that frail and vulnerable members of our community have a reliable home care service where they know and trust those who are coming into their homes to provide good quality care. We would like to encourage all those currently receiving a home care service to take part in the survey with the help of family and friends.

Further details are available from the BVCCF, Roxburgh House Court, Roxburgh Street, Galashiels TD1 1NY (telephone 01896 757290).