‘Not up to standard’: 25% of care agencies providing services to people in their homes are failing

Another report on the delivery of care services – this time by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) which began its review of home care services in April 2012. Throughout the review, they found that 74 per cent of the 250 services inspected were meeting all five of the National standards but that concerns were raised around several areas including: on many occasions, people received no prior notice that they would be visited by a care worker they didn’t know; Visits were often delayed or sometimes cancelled without prior notice; Risks associated with a person’s care or medical conditions had not been assessed and care plans had not been updated for several years; and Some services did not have clear systems to monitor the quality and information in care plans. Regular Hinterland readers will know that I am an advocate of ‘village companies’ the idea that social enterprises be set up and care delivered by local people so as to sustain rural communities as well as (most importantly) the dignity of people requiring care who want to remain in their own home.