to think that cleaners should be able to cope with dust?????

[CocktailQueen]

We have just engaged a care company to provide a cleaner/carer for MIL. Admittedly, her house hasn't been cleaned or dusted in years, but cleaners can cope with that, right?? Er, no.

Just had a call from the company to say that MIL's cleaner (and we asked that only one cleaner visit her and we haven't met any others and she gets confused) can't go in as planned tomorrow as MIL's house was too dusty and this has made her ill. WTAF?????? Asthma? What sort of illness would you get from dust?

Last week she didn't go in one day because she had a cold. AIBU??

God, having a carer for MIL is meant to make our lives easier, not harder!! FFS.

Can anyone recommend a care company in SW London???

do you want a cleaning company or carer? two different things really.

From the sounds of it, the house needs a deep clean first by a professional, not a swish around with a duster.

It is a specialist company that provides people who are used to working with elderly people, and do both care/cleaning work. We have only asked the cleaner to provide company and do cleaning. That is what they do. The house is dusty, sure, but it is not THAT bad.

You say it hasnt been cleaned or dusted in YEARS though.

That would indicate it is filthy to me.

A care/cleaning company would normally only be expected to perform light cleaning duties on a generally clean house surely?

I think the problem might be that agency workers won't double up. They take the jobs to be either a cleaner OR a carer. Obviously someone with a dust allergy/respiratory problems would be able to work in a normal clean environment and would have chosen the carer role accordingly.

I had experience of this job delineation when I needed a carer/cleaner after suffering a severely broken leg. The council's agency staff would turn up and say "I am here to give you your bath" and I would say "No I'm not down for personal care, I need my laundry doing" And they would go away with the expression I learned so well - "I can't do that".

So OP I think what you need to do is to get a company to do a deep clean of the property so that normal carers (personal care, feeding, bit of washing up) can work there. Alternatively, why not advertise privately for someone who can do all you require (like for a cook/housekeeper etc) and don't go the agency/company route as it's too difficult IMO to get what you want. And taking on someone self-employed would be much cheaper than agency too!

If it hasn't been cleaned in years it must be quite bad, could you hire a professional cleaner to give it a once over just one time? Sorry if I've misunderstood your explanation of the carers role but it doesn't sound like they're there to do a deep clean, I would assume it's just maintenance.

I am in SW London and have a friend who runs a cleaning company, that specialise in doing deep cleans for domestic houses (ie end of tenancy etc).. and would be happy to give you their contact details.

They also do general cleaning, and I work for her occasionally myself when she needs holiday or sickness cover.

There is a big difference between general cleaning and a house that hasnt been touched in years. I would think the person who turned up was shocked at the state of the house, and did not think it reasonable to be expected to clean something that was in such a mess as part of the job she was employed to do.

Squeaky - I think a lot of elderly people's houses are not immaculate - the company came to assess the house and MIL to begin with and didn't raise any problems then. So they must have felt it was within their capabilities.

Mandy - MIL would be deeply resistant to a deep clean of her house. She is still getting used to carers coming in anyway. It is a specialist agency providing cleaning and caring services for old people. what we are asking is not unreasonable!! And we are paying for it - the council is not paying. Thanks though - if this company carries on being crap we may advertise privately. but then how do you know that the person you employ is vetted/has no criminal record etc?? That's part of the reason we used a company.

We're not expecting the cleaner to work miracles, just dust, clean bathroom and kitchen etc (which are actually ok). Yes please, Squeaky, could I have your friend's details? The cleaner/carer came round to met MIL and see the house before she took on the job too and didn't mention any concerns then!!

meet, not met

it sounds like it needs a deep clean to me, then the carer/cleaner can get on top of it.
Why don't you have a day doing it if your MIL won't have other people in, just to make it a bit more habitable.
Years of dust doesn't sound good to me.

I have PMed you. :)

A deep clean doesnt need to be intrusive for you MIL, but it means that the place will be spotless, (skirting, tops of cupboards, stairs, bathroom, etc) and a general carer/cleaner will just need to run a hoover round, wash up and wipe the surfaces (which I would think is all they expected to do, but the company may have been keen to get the work, and not explained the amount of initial cleaning required to the employee they sent).

I've gone in and cleaned for elderly people who also have carers. The level of cleaning they needed was beyond what carers do. But, once I get it up to standard, they can help maintain it.

I think carers will do basic washing up, hoovering, and light dusting.

YABVU.

Dust can be very bad for your health. A lot of people have allergies to it, some have mild respiratory conditions aggravated by it.

It would not be unreasonable to complain if you had specifically hired a cleaner to deal with the dust problem - but it is not the job of a carer to deep clean houses, and they cannot be expected to work in environments which are potentially detrimental to their health.

If the house hasn't been cleaned or dusted in years, then it must be very bad. It sounds very entitled and arrogant to expect someone to provide personal care in those circumstances. It is not even as if they refused to work in the house - they did so, and then got ill as a result, and reasonably decided not to return.

You'd better do something about the dusty house.

YABU. As it's been said, agencies that offer cleaning and caring duties generally offer light cleaning duties and it sounds like this is more. However, YANBU in that they should have properly assessed the situation before agreeing.

The company have visited the home and assessed the work needing done and you were not alerted them to it being overdusty or a problem for their staff to cope with.

Sounds like they have staffing issues. I would be very annoyed with whoever had done the assessment.

just a note on the cold thing.
my mum worked for a care company and they're not allowed to visit elderly peoples homes when ill as it poses a risk to the client.
but that was just her employers policy.
cant comment on the company you hire.

Melonman - I do agree, that if the carer has a cold then fair enough that she doesn't visit. But this has only been set up for 2 weeks and the carer went once the first week (not twice), once the second week (not twice) and now not tomorrow, no idea about Friday. So not a great start!!!!! After a 2-hour assessment (by supervisor) PLUS a visit by the carer. Chuh.

Not sure I've got this;

All thats been said is that the cleaner is unable to make the next appointment.

Or have they said more than this ?

YANBU at all. If on a 2 hour assessment they did not mention it then they should be able to cope. If they had said 'it needs a deep clean first then we can maintain it ' that's fine but they diddn't. Plus when the actual cleaner came the first time she did not mention it either when she visited then IMO they sound a crap company. If he had a cold fine understandable that she diddn't come but to be whinging about the dust now she should have looked / seen and stated this when they came to assess before taking on the job. ..That is surely what an assessment is for or maybe I have missed something.

Being somewhere severely dusty and dirty (because it will be dirty, if it's not been cleaned properly for a long time) makes me severely ill; I once had to be rushed to A&E due to an asthma attack brought on visiting an old friend's home, not realising he'd not dusted for years.

People build up a sort of immunity to 'familiar' dust and filth, a fact not many people know. Going into a very dusty or dirty home for the first time could indeed make someone very ill,even if they don't have an underlying condition or illness. It is not just merely dust, it will be full of filth and germs.

I think that because you are used to MIL's home that, even though you know mentally and visually how rank it is, you are underappreciating and underestimating just how badly it would affect other people, even cleaners. If her home has not been cleaned for years, then it is going to be pretty bloody disgusting. I think YABU to expect ordinary cleaning staff to deal with that. They are very lowly-paid, and are not trained or - more importantly - expected to deal with very, very badly filthy places. For that level of grubbiness, you need experts used to dealing with extreme problems. It's a bit snooty and presumptuous of you to think that just because someone is a cleaner, they should have to deal with any level of disgustingness.

You say you just want them to do a bit of general cleaning, but if the home hasn't been cleaned for years, then that's pointless. It's like putting a plaster on a gaping wound.

It sounds like it needs more cleaning first. I wouldn't expect a cleaner/carer to cope with a house that had been neglected for years.

Is it possible for family/friends to go there and do a thorough clean of the rooms that the cleaner will be expected to clean, ignoring rooms that aren't used, so that the cleaner/carer can start with a clean house and just do normal amounts of cleaning of the rooms that are used? Or go there and keep your MIL company whilst a professional cleaner does a deep clean?

But the company you've chosen doesn't sound very good. They seem to have underestimated the work and chosen an unsuitable person to do it.

Agree with Oxford bags.If her house has not been cleaned in years then it needs a deep clean. I have an elderly aunt, same situation, and we had to deep clean it before we allowed any carer/cleaner loose on the house. There was years of grime and clutter.

Employing a cleaner just now is a pointless exercise. Oh the way I got round my aunt? We pitched in, did it and ignored her complaints.She loved the results, so all well. :o

I agree with you, CocktailQueen, other posters seem to be missing the point that the company agreed that all was in order when they took you on.

I didnt miss the point about that. I just get a feeling that the company didnt want to lose out on the contract and expected their employee to suck it up.

Thanks all. DH spoke to the company today and has sacked them. What a monumental waste of time that was. The supervisor, when he did his assessment, said the house was in pretty good shape compared to some he had visited. For what it's worth.

And the cleaner has decided that the house is too dusty to dust - apparently she's happy to go round to have a cuppa with MIL and keep her company, or to do other cleaning, just not dusting...

Might be worth ignoring mil's complaints and just getting on with a deep clean.