Five-minute care visits for elderly are banned

Must now be half an hour

FIVE-minute care visits for the elderly are to be banned by the NHS watchdog.

Officials are ‘deeply worried’ about their widespread use by councils and say it is impossible to treat patients with dignity in such a short amount of time.

In guidance published today, NICE says care slots should last no less than half an hour, unless they are a check-up following care earlier that day. The watchdog also says that visits must not be undertaken by a series of strangers, but by familiar carers who know the patients well.

Earlier this year, an investigation by the Mail revealed that at least 209,000 five-minute care visits were allocated by six councils in a 12-month period.

And three-quarters of authorities still commission 15-minute slots, which are often condensed to five or ten minutes as carers leave early to travel between homes. Many councils buy-in care from private firms and pay by the minute, so make visits as short as possible to save money.

Relatives involved in helping to draw up today’s guidance said they had seen loved ones with dementia being shouted at by carers in a rush to get to their next visit. They spoke of how staff routinely failed to show up, left early or were just uncaring.

Bridget Warr, chief executive of the UK Homecare Association, said: ‘There is some very, very worrying practice around in terms of what local authorities are commissioning.

‘There is quite a lot of payment by the minute, for contact time which is quite contrary to the well.

‘It can often be quite difficult to get admission to their home in five minutes, let alone have time to deal with them in a dignified way.’

Sandra Duggan, who relied on home-care services to look after her late mother, a dementia sufferer, said: ‘We had occasions where the carer simply didn’t turn up. Obviously that’s a huge worry. They were extremely late, or left early. I went in one day and I could hear the carer with my mother at the top of the stairs. She was rushing, she wanted my mother to do something quickly. People with dementia very often can’t take instructions in quickly. It was very inappropriate, she didn’t understand dementia and she was rushing. It’s about genuinely caring and about understanding people’s needs.’

Professor Gillian Leng, deputy chief executive at NICE, said: ‘The need for support at home is something that is likely to affect many of us.

‘ Without good support, older people can suffer from social isolation, malnutrition or neglect. They may also be at risk of injuring themselves without adequate help and could end up in hospital.’

Although NICE’s guidelines are not compulsory, a recent law – the Care Act 2014 – states that it is illegal to provide care which is deemed to be inadequate. There is no specific legislation relating to short visits but a home care firm whose overall service is very poor could be taken to court and fined.

NICE admitted it was ‘deeply worried’ that constraints on council budgets may prevent managers from implementing the guidelines.

But the watchdog said many of the basic principles of looking after someone well did not require extra cash, just a ‘change of attitude’.