A KEY provider of home care to the
elderly or disabled has been reprimanded over missed or delayed appointments
and is said to have been struggling with staffing, The Argus can reveal.
Such is the concern around Mears,
contracted by Brighton and Hove City Council, that the council has stepped in
to work with the company on putting extra safeguards in place.
Mears provides help with personal
care, cooking, cleaning, medication or shopping to elderly or disabled people
in Brighton and Hove.
But the council has told The Argus it
is “aware of issues in relation to the Mears Home Care contract and are working
closely with the provider on an action plan to address these concern".
There are “a number of issues
relating to the delivery of care including staff retention and missed/late
calls", the spokesman alleged.
He continued: “We work in close
partnership with all home care providers in the city to maintain and improve
standards of care for their clients, and our first priority is the safety and
wellbeing of vulnerable people in the city.”
In July the Local Government
Ombudsman ruled Mears had cancelled care to one woman with little or no notice
and carers were unacceptably late, adding; “This is a fault causing
injustice".
The ruling added that since the
woman’s daughter (referred to as Miss A) complained to the Ombudsman, “there
has been a further incident of care cancelled by the Care Provider with little
or no notice".
“The Care Provider’s failings caused
Miss A inconvenience as their carers enable her to have a break from caring for
her mother,” the ombudsman added.
Following the complaint, Mears
stopped providing care to the woman altogether, telling The Argus last week:
"Unfortunately we found we could not provide the particular service
needed. In these circumstances, we felt it better to simply say this, rather
than to continue trying but not quite getting to the service level that she
needs." A spokesman added they had offered to help find alternative help.
Last month an inquest was told how
Mears missed a routine care appointment to Herbert Rogers, 74, on the morning
of April 1, meaning he had not been seen by a carer for 24 hours when he was
found semi-conscious on the floor that evening, having fallen.
He later died in hospital. His
inquest has been adjourned until March.
Brighton
and Hove City Council’s lead member for adult social care, Councillor Karen Barford,
told the Argus Mears had been “working closely with the council to address the
urgent issue of any missed / delayed calls and have put in place immediate
measures to address this.”
She added: “This includes the
introduction of safeguards to ensure daily handovers in each branch.”
Coun Barford said recruitment and
retention of care staff was a national and local issue, which the council had
addressed by making contractors pay staff the Foundation Living Wage - higher
than the national living wage.
SOURCE: The Argus, Lucy Pearce
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