Independent review on Carewatch domiciliary care provision in RBWM - update 2020
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In January 2020, Healthwatch Windsor, Ascot and Maidenhead followed up research they had originally undertaken in November 2018 about Carewatch, a company providing domiciliary care to residents of Windsor, Ascot and Maidenhead to see if the experience of service users had improved.
108 surveys were sent out by the care company of which 40 were returned. This is a response rate of 37%; the 2018 survey had a response rate of 20%.
Overall, people surveyed were happy with the care provided by Carewatch. A third of the respondents were unhappy with the continuity of staff providing their care and support, staff’s understanding of their health and support needs and being treated like an individual.
Almost everyone said they had the same staff most of the time and that the care staff understood the health and support needs of the person they provided care for and treated them as an individual, compared to a third of respondents in 2018.
Almost everyone who responded knew who to contact for additional support for their health and wellbeing time and most respondents who answered and had family / unpaid said that family / unpaid carers felt supported and knew where to go to get independent support. In 2018 a third of family/unpaid carers didn’t feel supported by the care team.
Most people were happy with the company that currently provides the support and where concerns have been highlighted these appear to be with particular individuals or with communication with the office. No serious concerns, such as missed medication, were mentioned in the 2020 responses.
There were two recommendations about the need for good communication between care company and clients and their families and for the care company to provide clients and their families with informing about independent sources of support and information.