I was surprised to read the article in the issue dated February 21 about Atlas Care. My partner is in receipt of help provided by them.
Your article does not reflect our experience of what happens in Holbeach area when a carer comes to assist a client in washing and dressing in the morning. There is little or no continuity of care provision when carers are off sick or God forbid allowed a holiday.
Every other weekend we may see four different carers in four days, often being told that the carer who was assigned to cover the call is “off sick”.
We have caught this excuse out as being wrong on occasions. When the carer who was assigned comes on their next visit they inform us they had been sent to a different client at the last minute.
On one occasion a carer came and said the usual carer was off sick and they had only 20 minutes to see my partner.
She pointed out that after assessment by social services she was allotted an hour for her care. The carer finally stayed for 40 minutes but then sat in their car outside our house for a further 20 minutes.
None of the carers are allowed travelling time between calls and the calls are often overlapped, meaning that they are expected to start a new call before the previous one has finished.
Agency staff are hired at up to three times the cost of regular personnel. Few of these are fully conversant with the clientele.
Lastly we have worked out that Atlas Care earn more from not attending a client than they would from fulfilling their contract. Unless a client gives 48 hours’ or Atlas 24 hours’ notice of cancellation a client will be charged regardless of a carer attending or not. This means that Atlas Care are paid by social services or privately by clients, for unfulfilled caring calls. This squandering of our taxes should be stopped by whichever tier of government is responsible for agreeing contacts which pay businesses for providing no services whether provided or not.
David Metherell
Name and address supplied
