Kirkintilloch man hits out at council homecare shake-up

A SHOCKED pensioner says he has received visits from 15 different care workers since a controversial council shake-up, including FIVE different carers on consecutive days.

When the new-look service launched last month, 35 workers took voluntary redundancy instead of accepting the cost-cutting measures.

The Herald has been inundated with complaints from service users.

They claim appointments have been missed, there’s no consistency of care and private companies have been brought in without warning.

Now Kirkintilloch resident Walter Wright has accused the council of “covering up” many of the issues.

He said: “I’m 70-years-of-age, crippled and almost completely bedridden and have had quite a saga from the Homecare department since this started.

“I’ve had at least 15 carers since then and last week had a different one every day. To say they have sorted out the system is nothing short of ridiculous.”

Mr Wright said he contacted the council numerous times and had to threaten them with the Care Commission before somebody got in touch to apologise.

He added: “ I feel the council is simply exploiting the weak and vulnerable to save money.”

The Herald asked Freda McShane, the council’s acting head of social work, whether having care provided by five different members of staff on consecutive days was acceptable practice but she declined to respond.

She said: “In order to respect customer confidentiality we are unable to comment on individual cases.

“The changes that we have introduced are designed to deliver a much more responsive Homecare service. We have made positive adjustments by extending our core hours to allow greater flexibility in meeting the changing needs of individuals.

“The aim is to secure continuity of care by delivering a modern, effective service. In order to do this we are working closely with our partners to better support vulnerable people.”