Live in care at Home – Elderly home care blog

Care of the elderly is regulated by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), formerly the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI). The CQC has laid down a set of National Minimum Standards which apply to all organisations involved in providing care services to the elderly, whether they be charities, local authorities, or private agencies.

There are 27 standards which care providers must adhere to in designing, implementing and monitoring the care services they offer. The regulations go into great detail about all aspects of both the provision and management of care services and they leave any would-be provider in no doubt as to the level of professionalism, commitment and dedication required to meet the standards.

However, one glaring anomaly is that, although all organisations providing care services to the elderly are officially bound by the regulations, agencies which supply self-employed carers are exempt from a large number of these same regulations!

If the exemptions related to minor and peripheral aspects of care, this would perhaps be understandable, but the alarming fact is that agencies supplying self-employed carers are allowed to ignore a large number of core regulations which have been specifically designed to ensure the safety and welfare of the very people they are supposed to be looking after.

Historically a lot of care services for the elderly have been provided by local authorities and, even though a lot of their work has now been delegated to private care companies, local authorities still insist that all outsourced care services have to be provided by agencies which employ their carers directly, rather than by those which supply self-employed carers. There is a good reason for local authorities to insist on this and that is, quite simply, that, they do not believe they can trust agencies supplying self-employed carers to provide a professional and reliable care service.

The list of regulations which care agencies supplying self-employed carers can ignore includes a number of key standards which are fundamental to the welfare and safety of vulnerable older people. In particular they are NOT REQUIRED to:-

? Provide clients with a written contract.
? Draw up a personalised care plan for each client.
? Provide a consistent, continuous and reliable care service.
? Draw up and implement policies & procedures in relation to health and safety and medication.
? Carry out any risk assessments.
? Draw up and implement policies and procedures in relation to clients’ money and possessions and in relation to safety and security in clients’ homes.
? Provide a comprehensive daily record of care provided or even of any significant incidents.
? Provide carers with detailed job descriptions.
? Provide carers with any formal training.

Conclusion

Many agencies advertising 24 hour live-in services merely act as introducers of self employed carers, over whose work they have very little control. The agency may make an effort to find suitable carers, but it has no responsibility to train or supervise them or monitor their work. Indeed, in most cases the client will pay the carer directly and pay a separate agency fee on top. These agency fees can be quite substantial and many clients and their families may be left wondering exactly what the agency really does to justify its fees.

If you want to be sure of receiving a professional care service from properly trained carers, then you should engage a care provider which employs its carers directly. Before the service starts, you will receive a visit from an experienced nurse/care assessor who will assess your care needs, consider any risks involved and draw up a detailed care plan. The care will then be delivered in accordance with the plan by a small and settled team of qualified and experienced carers, whose work will be regularly monitored and appraised.

It may cost slightly more to use an agency which employs its carers directly, but it is the only sure way of guaranteeing a professional and reliable service. Not only will this enhance the quality of life of the person being cared for, it will also provide their family and friends with far greater peace of mind.