"Initially great, and then withdrew all care at…"

Helping Hands provided care for my father for over 1 year. I would like to start by saying that the carers themselves have been consistently great and lovely people. The problem is the management.

My father has a terminal illness which everyone knew would get worse and require more care as time went on. Initially, when caring was fairly uncomplicated, there were no major issues. However, as the care became more complicated, some small cracks in the management started to appear. It was all reactionary instead of proactive.

Finally (and recently), lots of regular (very good) carers started leaving. I have my suspicions as to why, but I do not know, so I won't guess on this review. However, as more and more left, the timings of care became more eratic and then on some occasions family members were requested to fill in for lack of double up care availability. Finally we were given a months notice of care withdrawal, but after only a week and half of getting notice, care was removed completely with around 24 hours notice.

I feel very let down and it sits squarely with the management. The area manager is obviously unorganized. If they have a manager above them, then they must be even worse, because I could see issues months before it came to crisis point. Given they are charging top prices and paying the carers half of what they are charging, I would have thought the management should be top class. This is not the case. They are obviously a company that cannot retain staff and one that reward poor management, at the cost of vulnerable people and their families. I would advise looking elsewhere for your care needs.