"Mixed experience of care provider - Merseycare Julie Ann (MCJA)"

MCJA have been providing care for my partner for the last few months. The care has been very mixed with much of it poor. Certain individual care staff are very good and it is a relief when they arrive. However much of the time there is no routine, with calls which can be within a 3-4 hour window and with no idea who might be at the door. Lots of details were taken on the first interview when the care was started, however the first carer who arrived, had no idea of my partner's condition or needs. This has continued as so many different carers call and the office don't pass on basic information such as key safe codes, which makes things a little harder and more stressful in an already difficult situation.

Co-ordinators from the organisation have contacted my partner by phone and in person without warning to discuss the care and he feels they have tried to bully him into reducing his hours. They have also called the social worker involved, without talking to him, and told them that my partner wants to reduce the hours, which wasn't true.

Weekends and bank holidays are the worst time, with my partner usually not knowing if or when carers are due and who they will be. Sometimes the carers don't arrive at all. More often than not some of the carers have called in sick and so more calls are heaped onto someone else who is in a hurry to meet their increased number of calls.

Calls can be made within minutes of the previous one, so the breakfast carer might have only just left and the lunch one arrives. In an already difficult and stressful situation, it seems that my partner has to structure his life around that of the company and carers who are supposed to be there to meet his needs, not vice versa.

Posted by Healthwatch Liverpool