Carers didnt turn up for morning call till 12.55pm.

[patsy999]

Is it worth complaining to social services about this? I have a 30 min care call in the morning and today I couldn't even have a shower as they were so late and i had an appointment at home at 1pm.
Not a single one of the carers can drive which is hopeless, as they use public transport to get to each call.
Plus, they only speak very basic English, so it's hard to communicate with them.
I'm only 55 and disabled. so goodness knows how the elderly are left.

You can complain but if the agency/company don't have staff they can't send them. I dount anyones just randomly decided not to do your call. Do you employ directly? Maybe that's something you could consider.

I don't think the majority of carers 'choose' this field as such. They're often poorly educated with minimal skills so their choices are fewer. Maybe they prefer it to hospitality or retail. I doubt they're chosing it over say working as an astrophysicist or pop star.

@patsy999 what time is your usual call time?

I am concerned to see that people are saying that service users are not getting showers as frequently as they should/would like to, as a care worker I can tell you that despite the shortage everyone that we attend to has showers either daily or when they request (or when we convince them that they need them!)

Most of the fantastic carers that I work with work 14 hour days most days of the week to ensure that this happens. This is home care.
We are all overworked and exhausted but so is our manager who also does everything that she can to help, even taking calls on herself to make sure that everyone receives the best care possible.

I know that not all care companies are the same but they are out there. Contact social care and ask them to assist you in finding a care provider that can give you the care that you need.

Or the Job Centre forced you to apply.

@JudgeRudy
I find that quite rude and incorrect. Most of the people that I work with are nurses that left the profession, some are mums that find they can work late so as to suit their children's needs.
We don't have a care shortage due to carers being to thick to work somewhere else, we have a shortage because people like you think that we're the bottom of the chain and it makes people embarrassed to work in care.

I can tell you that today I made a difference, I held a ladies hand while she passed away, I supported her family.
I helped an elderly mother support her nearly elderly son with the care that she can no longer provide herself
I made every person that I saw today smile, I made them feel heard, they felt supported.

I'm not in the job because I'm thick, I'm in the job because if I can make one persons day better then it's worth the long hours and crap pay.

It's a very intense job though @bounce89 for such low pay. It's extremely important work paid far too little, and whilst you may think it is worth it, I understand why many people think it is not paid enough to compensate for the amount of emotional input required.

A lot of people don't want to sit with dying people, and I understand that.

The wages are a disgrace.

I think that the companies providing care are often profit making organisations too actually and while the carera aren't paid much the companies themselves are often making a lot of money.

@calmcoco no it really does not compensate the emotional input and I agree not everyone is suited to caring, I just get so frustrated that people assume that the only people who would want to work in care are people who can't get jobs anywhere else.

I bet you wouldn't say that if a company provided you with a poor service because they couldn't get enough staff due to the fact they were paying them much.

Complain, but know it's absolutely not the carers fault and is only going to get worse.

And as for not being able to drive, well yes, they make often less than £10/hr, how are they expected to learn to drive, let alone afford to run a car? Until people want to vote for a party that cares about the disabled and are happy to pay more to fund carers this is what we're going to get.

It's an awful thankless job done by people who care a LOT and are supported by family/partners/the government or who don't have any other options for work, like those who don't speak good English.

It's not acceptable at all but while carers are working such a low paid job with rubbish working hours I can't see it improving. It's absolutely not your fault but also not the fault of the carers.

The whole system needs changing, staff are leaving in their 1,000's, the staff that are left have too much to do and not enough time. Then the complaints come in, the carer was late, the carer was early, the carer forgot my cup of tea etc and the next wave of carers leave as they keep being complained about by service users.

I can't see it improving until care work is treated as a proper respected profession with proper working hours and a salary to match the skilled and essential work they actually do.

In my area many are going bust which is causing yet more problems.

Hi OP, I'm the registered manager of a domiciliary care organisation (mainly supporting people with learning disabilities but also some people who have only physical disabilities). You should absolutely raise this with your provider. As well as a quality issue this is also a safeguarding issue, in my local authority his would be reported (no details just the number of incidents of this type) on our quarterly safeguarding report to the local authority. It would also be included in our CQC provider report.

For some people this is a (completely unacceptable) inconvenience, for others it could be catastrophic for example if they had fallen, not been supported to take vital medications, had been left to soil themselves etc. Yes the care sector is in absolute shambles but you do deserve better and one very small thing that contributes to better care is more accurate data on where things have fallen short.

And unfortunately for every one person like you, there will be two who get in and out as quickly as possible, turn up and have no idea what is in the care plan, or moan about the work the whole time they are providing care.
It shouldn’t be a competition about whose needs are more important, the carer or the carees, and while carers can change their jobs, move to a different profession etc, disabled people still need care and many will need it for the rest of their life. Being a carer is a job, for the person receiving care this is their life!

Profits have been up for most companies.

I think many companies have gotten pickier about their clients. Especially those receiving council funded care. It used to be that if you got to a client and they had had a toileting accident you could be there ages cleaning client, remaking bed etc. You’d only be paid for their allotted time though so you’re working for free for that extra half an hour. This is why people quit and are better off working in Tesco’s or whatever. You get paid for your whole shift.

I think now companies are much more likely to hand back care contracts back for, or refuse, clients who take up extra time or who live somewhere challenging. In a way this is a good thing carers should be paid for the hours worked (including travel). There should be realistic assessments as to what peoples care needs actually are and how much time that will take rather than expecting carers to work for free and everyone further down the list to accept delays.

The downside is those who are the most vulnerable/ have the most challenging needs often can not find care. There’s lots of stories about people stuck in hospitals/ care homes/ heavily dependent on family as they just can’t find carers. Reality is you could find carers if you paid enough plus travel time/ expenses but it would be really expensive and people/ councils don’t want/ can’t afford to pay.

I am shocked by a previous poster who said it is 'by the by' if you are sent a carer who doesn't speak English well enough for you to be able to communicate with them. Disabled and elderly people need to be able to communicate with those who come into their homes to provide care for them. How can their needs be properly met otherwise? And for some,who are very isolated, that may be the only person they see all day. How would you like it?!

I am very isolated, which was my point. Some days i only see the carers.

I work in domiciliary care and agree 12:55 is not acceptable, I'm sorry this happened to you. Is it a regular thing?
The carers or office should have contacted you to let you know. However a lot of carers will have been expected to squeeze in 10 morning visits, some are a few miles apart, and zero travel time in between.
I have a bicycle as I don't drive, the max I have to cycle is 15 minutes between each call. Some of our carers walk (not very quickly either) and can take 30+ minutes between each call, honestly don't know how they do it. The system needs an overhaul.
However I am sorry this happened to you. Hopefully it won't happen again.

I am one of a small number of white British carers in my company, many are on sponsorship, however they can speak an acceptable level of English, companies should be ensuring a certain level of competence in English before employing people.

I would raise it but their may be an exceptional reason they were so late. For example if someone ahead of you was unwell and they needed to wait with them for an ambulance. Or perhaps somebody called in sick that day and the workload was doubled for someone else as a result.

Perhaps you would feel better if you found out a specific reason.

That said I also echo others comments. It's poorly paid work that is also very emotionally and physically draining. People who can drive, speak good English or have the option to pursue further qualifications would probably be better off doing something else. Unfortunately where something is grossly underfunded and undervalued this is going to impact the service no matter how much the individual staff put in.

Sorry this happened it must have left you feeling very helpless x

We had to deal with this all the time for my mother. Agencies do not have extra staff so if someone is off ill or on holiday the other workers have to fit their calls in to the day. They aren’t paid enough to run cars and sometimes they get to someone who needs extra time. Eg my mother had a stroke and the carers phoned us and 999 but wouldn’t leave until she was in the ambulance. However, it is very difficult for those, like yourself, who are left hanging on. We had many occasions when mum would call us at 10.00am to say she still hadn’t had a cup of tea or breakfast and hadn’t had a shower. I used to dash over and do the breakfast and pray the carers would eventually turn up to give her a shower. Changing agencies won’t give a better service, I’m afraid. My mother had difficulty understanding the English of her carers but we discovered that several of them were highly educated. One spoke 5 languages and had lived in Sweden and France. Being a carer is the only job many of them can get. But some of them really do care about the people they visit.

I remember on one day I was given 12 morning visits, some several miles apart, it was ridiculous. I arrived for the last call at 11.35am. Understandably one family complained.
The rota can be an issue because a lot of people like certain times, like 9am. However you can't be in several places at 9am, you have to try and fit everything in as best you can. Also if you're new it's tough until you get to know what times the clients like. Some care coordinators will randomly allocate times, for instance they will send you to Maureen at 7am, you arrive and Maureen will still be asleep and will shout at you for arriving so early and family will complain, even though you were just following your rota. It's tough sometimes.

@patsy999

Please do contact the office and discuss how you would like things to go moving forward. They can only make adjustments if they know what the issues are, it doesn't have to be that you're complaining about the carer (unless that is what you feel you need to do if the care you are receiving is not adequate).
They may change the time that you usually have or ask the carers to contact you to let you know if they're running late.
Where we are we are quite rural so mainly have drivers, I'm not sure how anyone would manage on public transport getting between calls.

Could you look on indeed for care companies that offer travel pay and mileage in your area and then request a change in care providers?
I know this isn't something you should have to do but I guess the care providers that offer this are more likely to have better time slots available due to having more people that drive?

I do think the system needs an overhaul. This isn't directed at the OP but I'd always encourage people to consider where they live especially as they grow older and care needs increase. I live rurally and it's a real struggle for people to stay in their homes as there is limited care available and it is expensive comparitively. Mileage could be £10+, paid 30 minutes of travel time £6 ish so it's expensive before they walk in the door. Fine if you are self funding and can pay a carer 2-3 hours a day at a rate of £20 ish an hour. If it's a 15 minute slot funded by the LA you've got no chance and will end up waiting for a crisis or dependent on family.