Experiences of domiciliary care in Blackburn with Darwen
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Healthwatch Blackburn with Darwen were keen to engage with residents in receipt of domiciliary care in our 2025/26 workplan because this is a group from whom they receive little feedback about their care because of a range of factors including fear of reprisal, communication difficulties, and social isolation. They wanted to use the feedback to feed into the new local model for domiciliary care which was being reviewed at the time. They undertook a survey to which 66 people responded.
What is Working Well
- Care plans - 83% of respondents stated that they had a care plan in place and 78% stated that the care received is as agreed in that plan.
- Carers’ support – 86% of respondents felt that they were treated with dignity and respect and 73% felt that they were listened to and spoken to in a way that they understood.
- Skills and training – 75% of respondents felt that the carers had appropriate and sufficient skills and training to support them in their home.
- Contacting the care agency – 75% of respondents found the head office staff to be friendly and helpful if they needed to contact the agency.
- Being happy with the service – 91% of respondents were either happy or very happy with the service provided by the care agencies and 87% would recommend the agency to family and friends.
Areas for improvement
- Knowing who will be visiting as carers – 44% of respondents knew which carers would be visiting them and only 21% stated that they were told if there was a change of carer.
- Timing of visits – Only 45% of respondents stated that their carers arrived on time and 34% were informed if the carers were going to be late.
- Length of visit – only 58% of respondents stated that the carers stayed for the agreed amount of time on visits, but often felt that this was not the fault of the carers themselves