Forum Topic

avoid supreme care services

My mother is 83 and is recovering from a recent stroke.Ealing care services have been very supportive, and so my mother could return home arranged a care package with the above company.I called them prior to their first visit out of courtesy and to inform them that we have an old dog.I was informed the first visit would be at 715 last night, but when there was no sign, I gave them a call just to find out if there was a problem. The person who had been assigned to my mother called back apologising, and that she couldn't get there for another hour or so and was she still required. I politely said no, leave till the morning, I also asked if she was okay with dogs. The poor girl nearly flipped, saying that she would not be attending as she had a fear of dogs.I called the company this morning complaining, to be told they do not support anyone with a dog as most of their staff are Muslim and if they had known prior they would have not accepted to care for my mother.I would advise anyone to avoid this company like the plague, as they do not seem to have a code of care to either their customers or their staff.          

Glenn Young ● 3700d12 Comments

Achieving continuity of care can be very difficult.  I ended up labelling cupboards, plugs, (sticking on sellotape labels or bluetacked notes) and putting ideas for suppers on the fridge door.  Otherwise I found that a cheese sandwich was always suggested whatever I had prepared and left in the fridge.If you don't get continuity you can find that someone just plonks themself in front of parent saying "what can I do?" instead of using any initiative.  To have this every day three times a day is exasperating and demoralising.

Philippa Bond ● 3695d

Well the supervisor was not attacked by the dog, in her words she is quite sweet. Starting tomorrow we have a new care company starting, who I have been advised like animals, but this is all depending on a risk assessment of my house being conducted this afternoon.I do not care what creed, nationality religion etc the person is, providing they can communicate properly, the young lady they did send has been lovely, but she didn't work at the weekend, and I am sorry to say,the person they sent on Sunday, well I politely told her she wasn't needed.    

Glenn Young ● 3695d

How about providing a service which meets the needs of the buyers rather than the needs of the staff who provide the service. Why are they not told at interview that some customers have pets, cats, dogs etc. and that they will have to provide care. for these people? We more of a customer needs led response than a service needs response.

Keith Iddon ● 3695d

It can be very difficult to please people in a situation that they are not happy to be in.Not being allowed to use a cooker may be an LBE restriction.  It isn't a universal one.  It might be easier if everyone had simple microwaves but a lot of older people have never used them and a lot of younger people have never used anything else. It is important to match a carer with a person being cared for.  Some people value the chat more than the cleaning because neighbours friends and family don't visit. A visitor who lets her/himself in and hustles you about and has nothing interesting and cheerful to say about the outside world isn't much fun either and won't lift your spirits!   

Philippa Bond ● 3695d

My neighbour has a carer for 1 hour daily. This is to wash up, hoover and dust. They also have a dog. The carers are of all faiths, I cant recall a problem with the dog itself. One carer complained about dog hair and the hoover being heavy, so did not survive the course as she could clean a whole flat in 20 mns. then waste time giving my neighbour ear ache with useless chat. Some carers care about the job they do, while others couldn't give a fig. The big problem is they are not allowed to use a cooker to make a bowl of soup or cook a meal. Ealing council can charge £120pw for useless care agencies.

Sylvia Kidd ● 3697d

Well that's one way of looking at it.

Keith Iddon ● 3699d

If this contract was set up by Ealing Council and after enquiry they established that a dog was present then you might expect that they would arrange to send a carer who was comfortable with dogs.

Philippa Bond ● 3699d

Dogs are often used as reasons, cultural reasons, for not providing a service. If you worked in the public service sector you might know that instead of making excuses.

Keith Iddon ● 3700d

I'm not so sure that Glenn's problem had anything to do with cultural differences.  I think it was more likely that that was an excuse unwittingly and innocently offered by Glenn and thankfully and gratefully grasped by the carer because the carer was already overwhelmed with the calls that he/she had to make.  There will be service users who have no visitors or family at all who will be calling on them and the idea that there is someone there to check that the service user will get some supper/isn't collapsed on the floor etc will have been a relief.  The allocation of time per person is very often not enough (15 min) and if someone along the line has a problem then that will be overrun - especially if the rotas are already unworkable.We were horrified by the state of the social care system.  It is not something that you understand at all until you try and use it.  "The District Nurse"  can be 10 or more different people and they could never tell us when they would be visiting.  So one of us would have to wait in ALL day.  Of course we are grateful that they exist - it is just that you need to be able to be flexible and reorganise other areas of your life completely to deal with this and help reduce the stress. If you are there you can make sure that any other queries are answered as well as knowing the discussion that took place.  The notes more recently were made by the District Nurse on computer and can be available if you ask for them from the office because generally it will be in the 15 min when you popped out for a pint of milk that they call!  They also used to call out the day when they next would be visiting as they walked out the door and it took a while for us (under stress) to understand that there was a routine to this unless an emergency.  There was no introductory leaflet or info! Putting in wi-fi in our parent's home made a lot of difference as work could then be done whilst there.Friends visiting are absolutely wonderful because some time to yourself is needed to think straight and a walk in the park can help you to collect your thoughts.  I managed to become Vitamin D deficient - currently topical in the press - which didn't help any of us.Have you looked at the website for the Stroke Association?  Might they be of any help to you?The problem with the care system is that you may find that the next care company is the same.  Hopefully you'll find some good help.  Kim Rugg on this website was enquiring about local carers/care companies recently.

Philippa Bond ● 3700d

Unless they have an allergy, then this is not acceptable.

Susan Kelly ● 3700d

Glen - I'm afraid this is par for the course.  When my husband wss ill a few years ago we had the services of the District Nurse.  Some were excellent, but we had one who refused to come  into the flat because we had a cat. I think you can call it cultural differences.

Nina Battleday ● 3700d

This is very worrying but sadly is often the case with many care companies working within the care system in this country right now.  It is a disgusting state of affairs which ALL political parties should be ashamed of - AND should be working together to solve.Some more companies have recently refused to work for Councils any longer because the rates they pay are so low. Ealing Council (Julian Bell) has said that LBE did not need to put Council Tax up this year (the amount that the Government will allow it to be specifically for Care Services) because he said LBE has sufficient funds available. Perhaps that is not the case?  Or is it? Councils are very strapped for cash still because of austerity measures and a growing number of elderly needing care and care companies tender for the work. The workers now have to be paid the new minimum wage and should also by law be paid for the travelling time between service users.  The rotas I have seen for workers (not LBE) show several service users listed at the same time for varying lengths of time with no time allowed to travel between different homes and are totally unworkable within the time.  This can be a big problem. You also never know what time the carer will arrive whatever the time allocated.You will find a lot of info and articles on the dire state of social care if you Google it.You will find some brilliantly dedicated carers and some complete space wasters.  Some of them are teenagers because they don't have to be paid so much but nowadays some of those are incapable of even making a cup of tea or a sandwich. This is exasperating to someone of an older generation who has run their own home and has an idea of what needs to be done with a few questions and just assessing the situation when they walk in the door.  They have to fill in "their book" to show they have been there but they may not read it first to see what they have to do or to liaise with whoever called last - as they are always short of time...  No shows were a problem.  Make sure that your mother is able to call you or someone else calls on her as well so that you can be sure that her visits take place. I'm afraid that they need monitoring.  If you can find a cleaner that you can trust then this person may be able to provide more flexible and more continuity of care than a care company - although not personal care.I really hope that you are luckier than we were.  We found the constant monitoring we had to do exhausting (we were not in the same borough) although the initial 6 week free reablement care several years earlier had been brilliant.

Philippa Bond ● 3700d