Social Care News

Domiciliary care in spotlight over CCTV footage

Domiciliary care was in the spotlight today as the BBC obtained CCTV footage of a woman who was distressed at the lack of dignity provided by her home carers.

The footage, shown on the BBC's lunchtime news, shows 83-year-old grandmother Muriel Price in distress because her carer is late - she is incontinent and had been in bed for 13 hours before the carer arrived (55 minutes late).

The video seen by the BBC, which covers the period of a month, does show good examples of care - but there are also examples where carers were late, did not arrive at all or behaved with a lack of respect for the woman's dignity.

CCTV cameras were installed by the woman's grandson to help monitor her movements in case she should fall (she lives alone). He said he regretted the way his grandmother had been cared for saying: "To see someone in your family treated with no respect, no dignity, you question yourself and in a way you feel guilty. You're the one who's put that home care company in there, you've trusted this company to look after them."

The company said "At no time were any issues raised with Mosaic by the family. Any concerns would have been dealt with via the appropriate channels.

"Mosaic go [sic] above and beyond their legal requirements when employing carers to ensure all staff are capable of delivering quality care to their clients. The care of patients is of paramount importance to Mosaic."

• Read the full story on the BBC website

UK Care Minister condemns poor care

The BBC showed the footage to UK Care Minsiter Norman Lamb ahead of his meeting today (June 13) with English domiciliary care providers and carers. He said the current system resulted too often in poor care, low wages and neglect.

"It's just shocking and depressing because this is neglect in your own home," said Mr Lamb in reaction to the videos.

Talking about the wider domiciliary care sector, he added: "We know this is not an isolated case. There is some very good care, and we should celebrate that, but where poor care exists we should not tolerate it."