To think you can't just leave somebody without a carer?

[Mixedupworld]

I have a carer twice a day to help me with personal care. My carer was due 7.30am. If they are running late I get a phone call to say so. By 8 I'd not heard anything so I rang the company. I was told they couldn't find out what was going on until the office opened at 8.30. I rang again 8.30 and after a bit of back and forth it turns out my usual morning carer needs to self isolate due to possibly being in contact with somebody who has coronavirus. Ok so when will I expect somebody to come out to me? I was told there is nobody else, they are short staffed and nobody will be coming until my bedtime call at 8.30pm.

I'm paraplegic, can't move from my waist down. I can probably get myself out of bed but then I'm stuck in my night clothes all day. I can change and wash my top half but can't do my bottom half. I have chronic back pain in my upper back so it will take me a long time to get up and dressed. I work from home but have 3 zoom meetings today. I'm CEV so can't have anybody other than my carers in to my apartment. If I can't get out of bed then other than half a packet of biscuits and enough water in my flask for one more cup of tea, I have no food or drink all day.

I'm fuming

this is so not okay!

@Floralnomad

Yes it’s unacceptable but they can’t just magic a spare carer out of thin air and if they send someone else’s to you what does that person do . This is not an unusual occurrence unfortunately.

If you are in the business of providing home care you simply have to have contingency arrangements in place: it's not a matter of anyone being expected to "magic" a spare carer, you have to have arrangements for cover at all times. Privately arranged care is expensive and the cost expressly covers contingency care.

that is not good op.
no way should you have been left until you complained.

@MoonJelly in reality many of them do not have contingency plans or the contingency is get the others that are working to try and fit in the extra calls . We had this issue when using private carers for my mum towards the end of her life , she was completely bed bound and the agency we used had a Good rating but they failed to show up on a few occasions or showed up hours late . Fortunately we were able to get there quickly to help but eventually one of my sisters gave up her job to be a Ft carer .

Someone has just turned up.

@Mixedupworld I hope you find someone more reliable

glad to hear it op

Over 2 hours late after the abomination of yesterday... Urgh.

You deserve so much better than this. It's horrendous being vulnerable and needing care but being abandoned and failed. You need to know that you can count on them no matter what - and that should be a given, not some special bonus!

I really hope you are able to get carers in place who you can trust and rely upon. I'm sorry I can't do more than just type words on a screen.

do complain though op, otherwise they will do it again and think you are a pushover imo

[quote Floralnomad]@MoonJelly in reality many of them do not have contingency plans or the contingency is get the others that are working to try and fit in the extra calls . We had this issue when using private carers for my mum towards the end of her life , she was completely bed bound and the agency we used had a Good rating but they failed to show up on a few occasions or showed up hours late . Fortunately we were able to get there quickly to help but eventually one of my sisters gave up her job to be a Ft carer .[/quote]
Same situation with my DGM and this was a few years ago.

My aunt (DGM's elder DD) stayed to help DGM and my DM (younger DD) had DGM to live with her but the carers (council) before were awful and used to ignore written instructions e.g. for heating food. DGM didn't want to pay for private care or go into a home. Sadly a few years later good friend of mine who uses private carers says on the whole you get better ones but not always. I suppose as badly paid you can't attract good staff.

At my care company if this happens the on call manager has to go out. We're really low on staff at minute. People are dropping like flies having to isolate, wait on tests ext. care is being organised on essential basis, personal care is essential. Hope you get something sorted op. Have you spoken to cqc?

@CleverCatty because my mum was bed bound and a larger lady we were paying for 2 carers per hour and I think it was something like £18 per hour per carer so £36 per hour (£72 per day) for 2 visits a day ( morning and mid afternoon) with us filling in at lunch and overnight . It’s absolutely not cheap and they never stayed an hour because my mum used to say she didn’t need anything ( and then rang me to go and do whatever ) .

[quote Floralnomad]@CleverCatty because my mum was bed bound and a larger lady we were paying for 2 carers per hour and I think it was something like £18 per hour per carer so £36 per hour (£72 per day) for 2 visits a day ( morning and mid afternoon) with us filling in at lunch and overnight . It’s absolutely not cheap and they never stayed an hour because my mum used to say she didn’t need anything ( and then rang me to go and do whatever ) .[/quote]
They certainly don't stay the time unless they need to.

My friend's carers for her DM were supposed to take her on daily walks etc but barely did this and then one of them took photos of my friend's DM and also asked a lot of questions that weren't appropriate to ask at all - questions re my friend and her DSis - how could they afford to go to X country etc... not saying which as a bit outing. Friend and her DSis had to complain to get rid of that carer.

They're stuck between a rock and a hard place as their DM has dementia as well as other health issues but they don't want her in a home just yet, partly as another family member also lives in the house.

I do think - like you say Floralnomad - lots of carers need 'checking up on' - my friend and her DSis have changed care provider once and now check in on them as they've learned from bitter experience the carers won't do tasks e.g. remind the DM to take medication etc unless they're kept on top of.

I know someone whose DM runs a care home and the DD runs the admin side of it too. Really more controls should be in place but care work is woefully underpaid and will be until we value them more. You can tell who's making the profit here - certainly not the carers!

Op I'm sorry this happened to you.

You would still have autonomy to chose your cares if it was paid for. I hope at the very least you are claiming PIP.

would you consider employing a private, self -employed careworker.
it can be difficult to find someone who is good who has the availability, but i know several people who do this.
their standard is higher than most agency ones i have come across, some of whom are less than useless.
the whole system is rubbish.
the ones i know are highly skilled, committed and conscientious. they go above and beyond, and feel a real sense of responsibility towards their client.
good luck.

Someone mentioned £18 an hour as being expensive but the cost includes the following for each individual staff member:
Hourly Rate
Hol Pay (5.6 weeks annually
NIC
SSP
Pension
Training costs
Travel between clients for home visits

When you run an agency you need to add the admin costs, provide emergency and holiday cover, training costs, overhead costs, make sure care records are updated, update staff records, update DBS, carry out supervisions. A friend who owns a nursing home runs a care at home agency from there. His care team are run by the Matron, a qualified nurse and has on duty nursing as well as care staff. In case of emergencies on call staff are called in.

The standards for care provision are set by CQC who inspect hospitals, GP practices and nursing/care homes but the funding allowed by the councils to cover this is woefully inadequate.

I hope OP manages to sort out her care, but I wonder if she has an emergency panic button that she can press to call assistance, which is normally run by the local council.

@Felifox , I appreciate that £18 per hour has to cover lots of overheads but if you have to pay for your own care it soon adds up . As I said we needed 2 carers so £72 per day mon / fri ( we did weekends completely ) which was £360 per week . At that price the carers should be staying for the full hour IMO , even if the client says they don’t need anything , just stay and chat . As it was , and we checked the sign in / out book , for the 6/7 weeks that we used them I think the longest anyone stayed was 35 mins .

A carer turned up on time!

I pay £19 an hour weekdays, £21 weekends and bank holidays, £25 Easter sunday and £30 Christmas day. I have 1.5 hours per day.

glad the carer was on time.
they no doubt get paid minimum wage

@Mixedupworld

A carer turned up on time!

I pay £19 an hour weekdays, £21 weekends and bank holidays, £25 Easter sunday and £30 Christmas day. I have 1.5 hours per day.

£25 Easter sunday, boxing day and new years day.

Glad they turned up today . So I was probably correct in saying £18 as that was a couple of years ago , as pp said the actual carer is probably on minimum wage .

many agencies do not pay for travel between clients either in hours or fares. hardly ever saw a worker with a car. buses and feet only. some long walks in the burbs, in all weathers.
and these are often the ones that get contracts from nhs/ council. probably why thy can undercut those that treat their workers more reasonably.

That's disgraceful! I'm so sorry to hear that OP, and can't think of any good excuse for their treatment of you.

@alexdgr8

many agencies do not pay for travel between clients either in hours or fares. hardly ever saw a worker with a car. buses and feet only. some long walks in the burbs, in all weathers. and these are often the ones that get contracts from nhs/ council. probably why thy can undercut those that treat their workers more reasonably.

Yes, we don't see the need to care for the carers, and that has a knock on effect to the clients they're caring for.