Disability home care provider to stop bidding for contracts offering 15-minute care visits

Leonard Cheshire Disability, a leading charity and one of the largest voluntary sector providers of social care, has pledged to stop bidding for 15-minute home care contracts.

The charity has also launched ‘Make Care Fair’ to petition the Government to end 15-minute visits.

Clare Pelham, chief executive of Leonard Cheshire Disability announced the charity’s policy change in a speech to the National Disabilities Conference in London.

She said: “As pressure on council budgets grows, the time allowed for care visits is decreasing. As a charity that has been providing high quality care for over 60 years, we know that 15 minutes is insufficient time to give disabled people high quality personal care and support. To put it clearly – it’s not care if the support worker does not have time to take their coat off. Let alone have a proper conversation.

“Care workers are telling us that they cannot properly support disabled people to get up, to bathe, get dressed and to have breakfast in 15 minutes. This is not care. It is box-ticking. The situation has become critical. This is why we are going to stop bidding for 15-minute home care contracts, unless the person specifically requests a short visit, for example to receive an injection.”

Ms Pelham added that “in the most extreme cases we have seen a tender for visits of only 10 minutes” and called it “entirely unacceptable”.

“We understand the pressures on council spending. But there comes a time when it is right to draw the line. And to say so. We urge the Government to act now and use the Care Bill which is currently in Parliament to actually stop inappropriate and indecent care visits from being commissioned,” she said.

Leonard Cheshire Disability supports over 4,600 disabled people either in their own homes or in residential services. As the Care Bill begins Committee Stage in the House of Lords, Leonard Cheshire Disability is urging Peers to support its amendment which would give the Government the power to stop inappropriate 15-minute visits from being commissioned. At the moment the Bill does not act to prevent fifteen minute care visits.

Recently Unison through a Freedom of Information (FOI) request revealed 73 per cent of councils in England, Wales and Scotland still commission 15-minute home care visits to elderly and vulnerable people.

Regional figures show that 88 per cent of Scottish councils commission these short visits, compared to 83 per cent in Wales, and 69 per cent in England.

Unison is also calling on the Government to ban 15-minute care slots, and for councils to sign up to its Ethical Home Care Charter, which sets out basic standards for home care. The charter also provides guidance for councils to use in the commissioning process – 80 per cent of homecare is provided by the private sector and paid for by councils.

Heather Wakefield, Unison head of local government, said: “The Government has acknowledged the damage that 15-minutes care visits can do, but it has failed to stop their use. In fact, drastic cuts to council budgets have only made matters worse. It is time to act and ban their use across the UK, and for the Government to end the scandal of the elderly care crisis in this country.”

In a confidential survey of Leonard Cheshire Disability care workers who visit disabled people in their homes, one home care worker said: “15-minute ‘flying visits’ generally confuse and upset people with mental and physical problems. There is no time to reassure them and ensure they know we are only there to help and assist and that their concerns and problems will be dealt with sympathetically and quickly.”

Another home worker who has worked in the sector for 15 years said: “Things have to change but not at the expense of clients. It’s appalling the level of care they receive now. No home cooked meals, no time to chat. More clients getting 15-minute visits. As you don’t have time mistakes are going to be made. Dementia clients are rushed, which is the worst thing you can do. It’s depressing and upsetting.”

To sign the petition go to http://www.lcdisability.org/makecarefair

To vote on this controversial issue go to our debate page www.homecare.co.uk/news/article.cfm/id/12/should-there-be-a-minimum-time-of-30-minutes-for-home-care-visits

click here for more details or to contact Leonard Cheshire Disability