Archived: Plan Care Aylesbury

One person told us 'It's very hit and miss. They either arrive very early or too late.' We were told by that person that the agency had missed calls in the past but not recently.

Another person said they felt things had not improved. The main problems were a lack of consistent carers. They had children and didn't want lots of strangers visiting the house. They said they had complained about this so much they were now fed up with complaining as nothing changed. 'The carers were more than often late and the office rarely let me know if carers were going to be late.'

One relative told us that their relative's preferred time for care was 7am. They said carers were usually late and the office didn't inform them. We were told that on one occasion the carer didn't arrive until 10am.

We were told that 'some carers will 'read the book' (care plan) and therefore knew what to do. Others didn't 'read the book' and had to be told what to do.

One person said they were not happy with the service and would like to change to another agency so they could get a more reliable service.

Four people informed us that If a carer was going to be late they would usually let them know.

They told us that, compared with earlier experience with the service it was a lot easier to contact the office now.

A person we spoke with told us that an assessor had visited and talked to them about the care they needed, and how they wanted that to be done. 'We were kept informed about all the care needs my relative wanted and it's all recorded in the book.'

We were told that people were not always notified in advance when a care worker was going to be late.

People told us that when staff were with them, providing care, they were being constantly harassed by the office to take on extra calls. They told us that the care staff were 'run ragged'.

We were told by one relative that they had been left for six weeks with no care when their relative had been discharged from hospital. They said that two carers were needed to provide care but only one carer would usually turn up.

We were told that it was difficult to contact staff in the office or at weekends.

One relative said 'whenever I call the office to query where the carer is they always say they will get back to me, but they never do.'

People we spoke to expressed a lack of confidence in the agency to maintain improvements following a complaint.

People told us of poor timekeeping (mostly care workers arriving late, but sometimes early as well), high turnover of care staff, uneven standards of care, poor communications with the office, and on occasions a care worker of the wrong gender being sent.

We also heard from people who said that they were very satisfied with the service they were receiving and had never had cause to complain.

A number of people stressed that their dissatisfaction was with the managers and the office of the agency and not with their own care worker.