Profile: Saga chief Ros Altmann pledges to 'shake up the home care sector'

Since Ros Altmann became director-general of Saga, the company has become the biggest home care provider in the country.

Formerly known for its over 50s holidays and insurance products, Saga became the UK’s largest home care provider last year when it acquired Nestor and Allied.

“We are now in the position to shake up the homecare sector and we intend to do that. We feel people deserve a better standard of care,” says Ms Altmann.

“Councils are under constant pressure and care is one of the biggest expenses for local authorities. At Saga we have seen the impact of these cut backs and sometimes our care workers are having to supplement what the local authority pays us so we can ensure good quality care. We are constantly trying to make them recognise the real cost of care,” she adds.

A report by United Kingdom Homecare Association (UKHCA) hit the headlines earlier this year when it showed home care was regularly being rationed to 15 minutes slots to save money.

It claimed that in one in 10 cases, the daily ‘lifeline’ visits lasted no more than 15 minutes.

To combat this, Ms Altmann believes we “need a change of mind set across the whole sector, thinking about people's needs, rather than tasks or hours” and says “we shouldn’t be thinking about minutes and units of care”.

She certainly has the right credentials to shake up the home care sector as she is famous for championing the wronged and the underdog. Her most high-profile campaign is her long fight for justice on behalf of 140,000 Allied Steel and Wire employees and their families whose company pensions were jeopardised when the company went into receivership.

Her campaign began in 2002. She went to the Parliamentary Ombudsman and in March 2006, published a report ‘Trusting in the pension promise’ which found official information ‘inaccurate, incomplete, unclear and inconsistent’. She recommended the government consider offering compensation for lost pensions and the suffering and distress caused.

This was rejected by the then Prime Minister Tony Blair. It wasn’t until 2008, that the Government was found guilty of misleading the pensioners by the Appeals Court and the Government accepted the verdict.

“The thing I am most proud of, is the Allied Steel and Wire workers campaign, that I led to restore pensions to people who had been misled by the government into believing their pensions were completely protected and safe.

“I thought this injustice had to be rectified and that when the Government realised what had happened they would sort it out. But it was not like that. After a while, I realised it wasn’t that they didn’t understand. It was that they didn’t care and were just refusing to help. “These were working class people who were never warned about the risk to their life savings. It took me years of fighting and I had to take the government to the Parliamentary Ombudsman and to the High Court and then the Court of Appeal.

“It wasn’t until we got Peter Hain and Mike O Brien that at last we had ministers who really did get it. They understood there was a moral responsibility as well as a legal responsibility.

“The end result wasn’t perfect as they didn’t get everything they should have but still it was good.”

Ms Altmann admits “there were times when I did get terribly demoralised and I remember one time having a meeting with some ministers and a group of workers who had come from all over the country and who had trusted the Government and wanted to explain how they had been affected.

“The Government had put in place the measures which took their money away. The minister looked at me and said you are not going to get anything else from the Government. You are leading these people on and giving them false hope. That was a terrible time for me but these people were facing complete ruin and I couldn’t give up.

“I still get letters and emails from people who have reached retirement saying what a difference I made.

“These were the kind of people who made Britain great and they trusted the Government, but their trust was abused.”

At Saga she recently spearheaded a campaign to highlight the unfairness of the proposed very short-notice changes to women's state pension age.

“The government had promised, pre-election, that it wouldn’t change women’s state pensions until 2020 but then announced changes from 2016, however we managed to get some concessions which have helped reduce some of the worst impacts for these women,” she says.

Ms Altmann is an outspoken critic of the social care system.

She believes “we desperately need a reform of the system. There is the risk of the issue being kicked into the long grass but we are hoping that with the ministerial changes we will see some kind of reform.

There is cross party agreement that we need to do something. If we don’t sort it out, we will end up with an NHS service that won’t be able to cope”.

“The reform of social care is a big campaign for us. The issue is do we spend a bit more money now in a planned way with a reformed care system or do we spend more money in an unplanned way when all these people who do not get social care they need, fall back on the health service for help. We do not have an option of not spending any more money,” she says.

In terms of funding for the sector, Ms Altmann believes it is up to people to take on some of the responsibility themselves for paying for care.

“Unfortunately a lot of people bury their heads in the sand and hope for the best. People need to start saving for their later life care. They need to have some money put by. They need to know what their responsibilities are and what the Government will provide. Care is about families and it is a family issue to prepare for their care. The probability is that someone in your family will need care and as a family you should save towards that. If families do it together it is much easier,” she says.

Another way of getting funding for social care is to integrate it with health.

“Healthcare is where we spend all the money. Social care has been the 'poor relation'. However, I believe that if you are not well enough to wash yourself or dress yourself, then you are not well. You have a health issue, yet it is treated as a care issue. I would like to see social care and healthcare integrated.

“The health system was originally set up to make people better when they couldn’t go back to work. It wasn’t designed for chronic, long-term illnesses. It is not good for people with these kind of illnesses to be in hospital but they are there because of how the health system works. Telecare is another way of coming out of hospital quicker and we looking at ways to increase the use of telecare and telehealth more at Saga,” she says.

She is a firm advocate of home care staff having a “certain minimum standard of training so people can feel confident they are going to get good care. I would like to see it become a profession like nursing."

Ms Altmann also believes people should be able to do more part time work in later life to increase their quality of life.

“It is wonderful that so many people are living longer but if people are still fit and healthy in their sixties, it is better for them and quite responsible of them to say they will go on working.”

In terms of the future for the home care sector, Ms Altmann is optimistic. "I couldn’t have kept on going with all the campaigning if I wasn’t. Saga is in the position to help move things in a better direction. A lot of what we say is common sense and if it is common sense, in the end it will happen."

Interesting facts

First job: Temping as a secretary during school and university holidays

Favourite book: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Favourite film: It’s a Wonderful Life

Favourite piece of music: 1812 Overture

What is the best present you have received: My children

Last holiday: Australia and New Zealand