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The new system has made things worse not better

Posted By Ragsy

"The new system has made things worse not better"

About: Care & Support / Home Instead

(as a relative),

East Renfrewshire HSCP home care was until recently reliable.

Since they brought in a new scheduling system four weeks ago we have gone from two regular carers on a four-day rotation arriving at roughly the same time each day to numerous different carers arriving at all sorts of times, morning visits happening at lunchtime sometimes. No continuity anymore, the new system has made things worse not better.

The new system has put such a strain on the carers it is not surprising they have so many off sick and are now extremely short staffed.

We have now been told effective immediately that my relative who the care is for will not have any home care for two weeks, as there are others whose need is greater and they have to be prioritised. Whilst we understand this, just because there are others with greater needs it doesn't remove everyone else's needs.

There wasn't even an option for them to come in every other day or even a couple times a week, it was a blanket we won't be able to provide anyone for two weeks. It was explained that the people who live with the person who needs the care have their own chronic health issues, and having to do the caring that the carers would normally do will have be incredibly difficult and will have detrimental effect on their conditions.

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Responses

Response from Lee McLaughlin, Head of Adult Services, Communities and Wellbeing, East Renfrewshire Health & Social Care Partnership 2 years ago
Lee McLaughlin
Head of Adult Services, Communities and Wellbeing,
East Renfrewshire Health & Social Care Partnership

Submitted on 05/01/2023 at 12:19
Published on Care Opinion at 13:29

picture of Lee McLaughlin

Dear Ragsy,

I'm sorry for the disruption to you and your family. The health and wellbeing of our residents is our main priority but unfortunately we had to take the difficult decision to reduce some services due to the extreme pressures we are currently facing. This meant having to cancel some visits and asking families to provide additional support to their loved ones to allow us to support those with no family and the highest level of need.

Whilst we have introduced a new scheduling system, the pressures we are experiencing are mainly due to staffing levels. Health and social care services across Scotland, and the UK, are currently experiencing significant pressures because of increasing demand for services and a shortage of staff due to recruitment challenges and staff absence. Health and social care job vacancies are higher now than before the pandemic and the demand for our services continues to increase. In East Renfrewshire we are seeing acute challenges, in part, due to our size and geography. We continue to try to recruit staff to the service as well as asking our existing staff to work in different roles or to work extra hours and we are working hard to make sure service levels return to normal as soon as possible. In the meantime, should your circumstances change, please contact the service on 0141 800 7182

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Update posted by Ragsy (a relative)

Whilst I appreciate the reply and understand the service was in a difficult situation, I do not feel we were listened to when we explained why it would be extremely difficult for us to cover the care over the two weeks.

The care is due to restart and it will be some weeks if not months before we recover from the extreme pressure and stress the two weeks has put us under. If this situation was to ever arise again then I hope we will be listened to when we say there are health reasons why we cannot cover the care. You cannot just assume that because the client has family that they are capable of covering the care.

Response from Lee McLaughlin, Head of Adult Services, Communities and Wellbeing, East Renfrewshire Health & Social Care Partnership 2 years ago
Lee McLaughlin
Head of Adult Services, Communities and Wellbeing,
East Renfrewshire Health & Social Care Partnership

Submitted on 10/01/2023 at 15:03
Published on Care Opinion at 15:03

picture of Lee McLaughlin

Thank you for your feedback. I am sorry that you did not feel listened to as this was not our intention. Unfortunately the care at home service required to make difficult decisions to prioritise service for those with the greatest needs and those with no family or friends to support them.

If you would like to discuss this further our home care registered manager, Lucille Cochrane, can be contacted on lucille.cochrane@eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk

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