Pensioners still failed by 15 minute care visits

VULNERABLE pensioners are going without showers and proper meals because ministers have failed to stamp out care visits lasting just 15 minutes.

Three-quarters of home helps say they are too rushed to do their jobs properly, according to a survey by public sector union Unison. Almost two-thirds of case workers said they have only 15 minutes to help people eat, drink, get washed and go to the toilet despite government pledges to end the scandal. Nine out of ten of those questioned said they did not have time to chat, even though the person they looked after may not see anyone else that day.

The survey of 1,000 workers found threequarters feared they were compromising the dignity of those in their care because of the pressure to fit in too many visits.

Some 80 per cent of home helps had not had enough time for someone with dementia, 77 per cent for someone who had difficulty communicating and 71 per cent for someone who has had a stroke.

Almost two-thirds said they had not had enough time for someone who was deaf or blind. Around 30 per cent of respondents said they had received no specialised training in dementia.

Unison’s report, Making Visits Matter, highlights the ongoing crisis in england’s broken care system. earlier this month the Daily Mail revealed that regulators are called in to deal with four complaints about care firms every day.

The Care Quality Commission launched 1,512 enforcement actions against care homes and companies which provide home helps in 2016/17 – 68 per cent up on the previous 12 months.

Unison’s survey found that just over half of the care workers it questioned were on zero-hours contracts and almost two in three said they were not paid for the time they spent travelling between visits.