Emergency care arrangements in place

EMERGENCY arrangements have been put in place to avert a crisis after a private care provider operating in Tayside gave notice it was to cease trading.

Durham-based My Homecare informed the Care Inspectorate of its intention to close. It is understood the firm has 23 clients in Angus, 18 in Perthshire and a handful in Dundee.

The development led to health partnerships immediately stepping in to provide emergency cover to ensure clients continued to receive services.

My Homecare is one of several private firms providing personal care services — like washing and dressing people in their homes — that used to be carried out by local authorities.

It is understood My Homecare continued to provide some services last week, though not all of its contractual obligations, and the future of the firm is unclear.

The firm’s Angus clients are mainly in Monifieth, Carnoustie and Arbroath.

In Perthshire, it provides care in Auchterarder and Carse of Gowrie.

An Angus Health and Social Care Partnership spokesman said: “We were informed the company was experiencing difficulty and could not continue to operate. All service users have been contacted and the partnership is providing care services through our response teams in the short term.”

A Perth and Kinross Health and Social Care Partnership spokesman said: “We are working to ensure alternative ongoing care arrangements that continue to meet service users’ needs can be put in place.”

The manager of My Homecare’s Dundee branch, Caroline Dunn, who started in the role last Wednesday, would not explain the difficulties the firm had experienced but said the firm intended to continue to operate.