New concerns about care in the home
31st October 2008
Alan Whitehead has raised new concerns regarding the threat of massive disruption to domiciliary care services which could hit up to 1000 vulnerable citizens next month.
Dr Whitehead has written to the City Council asking them to confirm how many residents currently receiving domiciliary care will lose their current carer under the new care contracts, how many will be forced to switch to Direct Payments in order to keep their current carer, and whether there will be any difference in price between care provided through the local authority and care purchased personally through the Direct Payment system.
Alan said :
“When the Council first proposed these changes to domiciliary care, they pledged that most residents would be able to keep their current carer. But I have since been contacted by a number of constituents who will lose their carer under the new system. I have already held an urgent meeting with officers about one such case, but we still need clarification on how the system will work for everyone else. I want the Council to be absolutely clear that no-one currently receiving domiciliary care will be worse off under the new contracts.”
More information
- Over the summer the Council publicised plans to change the contracts for domiciliary care in Southampton, with one Council-approved provider only operating in each area of the city. This would mean that many people receiving care in the home would lose their current carer and have to be allocated a new one. However the Council also issued assurances that they would attempt to limit the disruption to a minimum, by getting as many care workers as possible to transfer over to the new care provider company for their area. But many care workers are reluctant to change as they fear it will lead to a long term cut in their pay and conditions.
- Care workers who transfer to a different employer would have their previous pay and conditions protected under European employment law (“TUPE”). However, TUPE protection expires after 18 months, meaning at that time care workers who transfer would in some cases be likely to face a reduction in pay and conditions.
- There are also concerns that the quality of care provided in the west of the city will also be lower under the new Council contracts. One of the current care providers for the west of the city, AQS, is rated by the Commission for Social Care Inspection as providing a 3-star quality service. The new single provider for the west of the city, Care UK, offers only a 2-star service. See http://www.csci.org.uk/
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