Help to Live at Home

This is a report by Healthwatch South Tyneside. The project looks at experiences of home care services.

Since 2020 homecare provision has changed in South Tyneside, following the introduction of four zones within the local authority area.

Healthwatch want to understand how the newly established zonal system meets the needs of our communities by approaching those who need care in the community, to assess the alignment or gaps between the perception of the service providers and the experiences of those who need to use the services.

More than 200 people were asked questions in six areas: the visit/punctuality; quality of care and treatment; time allocated; level of skills and training; ease of contacting the agency; personal/demographic information. 

Key findings

• Nearly seven in ten respondents (69.3%) said the care and support received is always as agreed in the care and support plan, with 14.4% reporting it sometimes was.
• Knowing which carer is coming and when is important to the users of home care services – 73.8% said this is always the case and 20.8% responded sometimes.
• Less than half (42.1%) said they were always told in advance if there would be a change in the carer or time of the visit, with 30.2% saying they were sometimes informed and 27.3% saying they were never given advance notice.
• Punctuality is also important – 92.5% of respondents said it was either always (77.1%) or sometimes (15.4%) important that their carer arrived on time, particularly where medication is concerned.
• However, less than half (48.0%) said their carer always arrived on time, with 38.6% responding ‘sometimes’ and 9.9% ‘never’.

There are recommendations in this report

• Care providers need to ensure an up to date, person-centred Care Plan is in place which reflects each person’s needs and wishes, perhaps by scheduling routine monitoring calls/visits.

• Check that all clients have a contact name and number for the care provider to report any problems and discuss any issues.

• Ensure the right care worker(s) is/are matched to the person, i.e. male carers to male clients when personal care is involved.

• Care worker/agency to inform the person in advance if a visit is going to be missed, with as much notice as possible.

• Ensure care workers are at each person’s home for the length of time they are contracted to be there.

• Look into potential training issues relating to the use of equipment in clients’ homes and the quality of customer service when people ring the agency.

• Address the issue raised by some staff about travel time/pay.

There are no follow up actions in this report. The local authority has responded.