Archived: Direct Health (Halifax)

People told us that the carers are very good but they would like more consistency so they know exactly who will be coming and when. One person told us that they had seven different carers over an 11 day period. Some people told us that when a carer is going to be late no one from the office contacts them to let them know. They have to phone up to find out if someone is coming. The timing of calls being too late or too early was also an issue for some people. Two relatives told us they found one of the team leaders rude and unhelpful.

Some staff told us that they felt supported by their care colleagues, but work schedules were problematic at times. All of the staff we spoke with told us they enjoyed their job.

We found there was no registered manager at this service and there was a lack of leadership and support. A lot of the documentation was out of date and the organisations policies and procedures had not been followed.

We went back on this visit to see what improvements had been made. The staffing levels in the office had improved and there were two care co-ordinators and an acting manager on duty. Our visit followed a weekend of heavy snow and this had caused travelling difficulties for staff. No calls had been missed and staff were contacting people to let them know which carer would be coming and explaining why they were late.

The acting manager told us there have been no missed calls and explained that the computerised system is now fully functional. This meant that office staff were quickly alerted if a call had not been made and can make arrangements to get that call covered.

We saw three very recent compliments that staff had received:

'I have missed my regular carer this week but the care worker that has come has been a fantastic member of staff.'

'My relative had to go into hospital and the carer stayed until the paramedics arrived and was fantastic.'

'My carer is a fantastic staff member.'

We spoke with one relative who told us 'the staff are very helpful and efficient and respect my wishes.'

The office was very busy, the telephone was constantly ringing with people telephoning to check their carer was going to visit and staff phoning in about problems with their schedule of visits.

We became aware very early on in our visit that visits to people had been missed over the previous weekend and because of the serious nature of these and the need to make sure people were safe, this became our focus.

We spoke with two relatives directly in relation to the missed calls. Both told us that it was not the first time that this had happened. One also told us that they had been asked recently to cover a call to their relative at a weekend because of staff shortages.

We spoke with staff who told us that they enjoyed their jobs and felt supported by the manager and training manager. However, they told us the way visits were scheduled was making it very difficult for them. They also told us that some staff were working long hours and wanted time off, whilst others wanted more work but were not getting it.