Is it common for carers to just not turn up?

[Anjelika]

My DF returned home yesterday after 4 months in hospital/rehab place with a 4 calls a day care package in place. This is currently funded by the council for up to 6 weeks under a re-ablement programme. He has severe mobility issues so relies on carers to get him up in the morning and put him to bed at night.

First full day today and I get a call at midday from him to say no-one has been in to get him up or anything. I had a nightmare trying to contact the care company the council outsource to but in the end someone at the council took charge and said she'd spoken to them and someone did eventually turn up at 12.30 and again at tea time.

Bring on tonight and his neighbour messaged me at 10.30 to say the lights are still on and she can see him still sat in the chair. I am at my wits end. I live an hour away, have 3DC and my DH is working away from home. I hope to God they come tonight or he is going to be spending all night sat in a chair. I had no idea it would be like this. Is this normal?

Sadly yes I think it is. DM ended up back in hospital within a day as the carers didn’t turn up so she tried to walk to the the bathroom to go to the toilet and had a bad fall.

Thanks, that's what I feared. I know they are stretched and struggle with retaining staff but it's awful being on the end of it and in a constantly anxious state. I am going to have a serious chat with DF at the weekend about other options.

Do you have the care company out of hours number? Definitely call the duty social care team at the council and report this, it shouldn’t be common at all. If he can’t mobilise and nobody has been to him you will have to grit your teeth and call an ambulance for him, they will have to take him to hospital if he isn’t safe at home.

Have you contacted social services? There may be an emergency number you can contact them on to complain, or get them to contact the care company.

We’re moving my aunt nearer to us this weekend to a care home. I think her carers were good but she cannot get up on her own and we live just over an hour away. Feels such a relief to have her nearer soon. Really hoping she likes it.

No it is not common, your poor DAd. Please kick up an almighty stink with SS and the company tasked to do his care. In fact I would take my dad home if this was my dad, absolutely shocking.

Ring your local authority safeguarding number and inform them. I would also contact care Quality Commission (cqc) who regulate all care providers. Let them know about the care agency. If they’ve missed your fathers visits they need to know.

Please ring 111 and tell them exactly what has happened, believe me they will help. I think it will be much safer for your dad to be taken back to hospital until tomorrow until you can liaise with the ward staff about his care. Gosh I'm even worried for your dad now.

Care companies have people on call, Managers or senior carers . Try ringing their main number and see if the message tells you the out of hours number or if all else fails ring the local authority out of hours duty line for adult social care.

It sound like your df has had a package put in place by the reablement team through the care company and they are notoriously unreliable.

That said it is unacceptable not to attend, to leave him in the chair all night is a safeguarding.

I'm in care....home care now residential and this is the sort of thing the care company will get their backside handed to them *dependant on the care company they may or may not care (some are giant asses) but the louder you shout now the better care will be delivered.

Dont let it go, and please dont feel sorry for them , they have a duty of care (I have been on the receiving end of people yelling and you always get someone there.....its not ok to ever leave it as a care professional)

I'm so sorry OP there really are good care companies but usually the reablement team have to use the one who one the tender....and they generally win by being cheap. You can imagine what comes with that

My mum has had two extended period of care provided by our county council this year and I haven't experienced that at all, we haven't had a single missed call so either we have been extremely lucky or you are extremely unlucky.
Whatever the case is, that is not acceptable so please don't let it go. Call and make an official complaint and make sure your social care team are aware too.

No that is not normal or acceptable. Is there a crisis team you can call? They may pick it up as an avoidable admission if they put therapists/carers in place. I have seen that happen a few times where I am. Agree re the safeguarding also. It is not acceptable and needs looking into. Hope your dad is sorted asap.

Thanks everyone who responded. Some good suggestions here. Whoever said it's the reablement programme engaging the care company who puts in the lowest tender is absolutely right I think.

Yesterday someone on the reablement team did take responsibility and lodged a complaint with the Quality & Safety Officer at the council as she couldn't contact the care company on the number given either. She emailed this woman marking it as urgent at 12.30 and in the end I phoned the woman myself at 4 and she hadn't even read the email! She did take action though and spoke to people at the Care Company. She has given me another number for them and the manager's name. It doesn't fill me with much confidence though.

Once reablement finishes we will need to find other provision. Does anyone know if the private services are any better than the council ones?

What happened to your dad thou? I would seriously look at care teams yourself and ask your dad what he wants. It's disgusting what they did to your poor dad. I hope he gets the care he needs, please go right through the complaints process here, your dad was seriously neglected, anything could of happened.

It shouldn't be like this. My father had 3 months of care, for the first two months the re-ablement team (who continue as means-tested care until a permanent team can be found) and the last month a permanent care team, and not once did they fail to turn up. So kick up a stink.

Hi. Things have gone much better today. 3 visits so far and my dad is already in bed so I won't be worried about what time the 4th ones turn up. He was OK considering but it was very neglectful. I'm hoping now the Reablement people have taken it up with the Care company things should be better.

I think we'll be in the same position soon of paying for this care whilst getting something else in place as the reablement package will end. We can continue with the council care (a different team and care company so will need to go through all this again!) or find our own private company. Has anyone got any thoughts on what's best?

We started with reablement and moved to council care. The reablement team continued until the council care was in place, so that was seamless, and was certainly easier for us when there were so many other things to be sorted out.

Council care: They pay, dad is assessed for contribution based on income and savings (but not on home, because he's still living in it). Quite possibly cheaper. They will keep a record of how many minutes they were there, and how many minutes they were actually helping Dad, and if Dad isn't "needing" any help (eg they turn up at 8pm to put him to bed and he's not ready to go), Council will try to reduce number of visits.

Private - a lot more admin for you, and possibly more expensive. But you have more control. If you want to pay someone just to hang around for half an hour, you can. And you can pay for them to do what you ask them to do.

I think if we were still needing care, I'd go with Council, but supplement it privately. The supplement doesn't have to be "care" - eg, if you hire a cleaner or a gardener, they will let you know if there's a problem with dad, and they'll be cheaper than an agency carer.

I'd also think about a security camera linked to your phone, so you can be alerted when a carer arrives (or, conversely, realise that a carer hasn't arrived)

Thanks Mere. For council care where dad is, you pay a one off fee of roughly £250 then an hourly fee of somewhere around £14.60. What I would like is the ability to state what time the carers come in. At the moment you literally get a 3 hour window for each call! Yesterday they came and got my dad up at 7am when he would much rather have stayed in bed and in the evening the last call can be as late as 11! I was wondering with private care whether it's easier to state an actual time.

That sounds dreadful! We had one-hour windows. What we had difficulty with was the evening - the carers all clocked off by 10, whereas Dad was used to staying up till at least 1am. So in the morning he'd refuse to let them ge him up, because he wasn't ready, and in the evening it was too early for him to go to bed.

That one-off fee presumably means there's people who need care who are not having it.

I suggest you start ringing around private suppliers and see what they say.

Hi Mere - just wondering why the one off fee would mean there are people who need care not having it? My dad has to pay it as he wouldn't qualify for free care after this package stops. I think I will phone round some private ones and be asking the council contractor the same questions when the time comes.

just wondering why the one off fee would mean there are people who need care not having it? Because £250 is a big chunk to pay up front. It would have been very difficult to persuade my father to pay that, even though he had the money to pay it. As people get older they start losing touch with the way prices rise (I'm doing it myself), and things that seem reasonable to one generation seem extortionate to the generation above. At the moment it is often difficult to get elders to accept care other than "perhaps only a half hour visit, maybe just for a few weeks while you get over this fall/the flu/etc ..." and getting them to pay £250 up front for what they expect to be a tiny amount of care for a short period isn't going to be easy.

this story was pretty chilling

When my Dad was having 4 x a day carer visits, I contacted the care agency and asked them to send a copy of the weekly schedule to me every week via email (which they did). Times did vary a little on a daily basis, but I found that the more I complained, the more regular they got. I just had to keep on top of it, and make lots of noise every single time they didn't do as they were supposed to do. Be the squeaky wheel! I was so squeaky I swear I could hear them sigh every time they realised it was me on the phone - but it worked. So many elderly people don't have anyone to advocate for them - gawd knows how they manage. All the best to you and your Dad.

My late grandfather regularly had carers turn up very late or not at all.

Many clients would have also missed a visit on the day the carer found my grandfather on the floor, unable to get up. She had to wait with him for about 3 hours until the ambulance service had capacity to attend.

The whole system is a mess

The whole system is indeed a complete mess. Had the same thing again today with no-one going in this morning. They eventually turned up around 12.30 but hadn't missed my dad apparently, just running very very late. The lunchtime ones turned up at 3 and the teatime ones around 5. At least some other patients got a better deal today as I was with my dad all afternoon so did his cooking for him. I also found out from neighbours that the carers are in and out in literally 5 minutes and not the 30 mins they are supposed to be in for. I know though from the ones I spoke to today that they had 15 people to visit this morning. No way could they spend 30 mins with each. It is awful. The food they are giving my dad is not good - they microwaved a quiche from frozen 😱.

Have you got meals on wheels in your area? (About 40% of LAs still have it). Ours was very good, and, above all, reliable on timing.

I reiterate what I said above about security camera or other electronic means of timing comings and goings. You probably have to tell people you've got it, but there's no reason you shouldn't install it to protect against cold callers and people preying on elderly folk.