Carewatch Response to BBC Panorama 9 April 2009
Carewatch Care Services Ltd is very disturbed that the BBC Panorama programme examining home care did not present a balanced view of the industry in general and Carewatch’s service for the City of York Council in particular.
A client satisfaction survey carried out by Carewatch in York since the Panorama reporter worked undercover, revealed that 85% of the service users responding stated they were happy with the quality of the care provided and the training and competence of staff. Panorama chose not to report that.
Carewatch Care Services Limited has been under new management since 6 October 2008, just a matter of weeks before an undercover Panorama reporter started working for the company in York. Panorama chose not to report this either.
Carewatch differs from other national care providers in that the individual franchised offices are run by independent business owners.
The new Carewatch management team has already implemented some key changes. All staff training has been re-configured and seven regional training centres have been set up. Internal audit of the delivery of the service has been re-defined so that much greater monitoring is in place.
There were a number of instances in secretly filmed material that were not put in context and were factually incorrect or misleading. Two stand out.
The undercover reporter was the individual who let go of the hoist. We have evidence that she did so against specific instructions and by her own admission she had been trained in manual handling. There is, in our view, at least sufficient evidence for her to answer a charge of deliberate assault and we will be taking this matter further.
The programme was critical of the care that the undercover reporter was expected to provide for a service user on Christmas Day. However that service user has told Carewatch this week in an unsolicited email: “I think you are all doing a brilliant job often under very difficult circumstances. I would hate to think where I’d be now if it wasn’t for all the support and care your agency has given me. I know you all work hard. My thoughts are with you.”
Carewatch is continuing to work very hard in a spirit of co-operation with City of York Council and we have agreed a programme of action. We are committed to providing high quality personal care and are determined to ensure that any lessons should be learnt.
Carewatch believes that in order for the home care industry to be able to devote its energies to delivering high quality care, the government needs to take a radical review of how services of this nature are better funded and commissioned.
Additional points from Panorama
• Panorama stated that their undercover reporter worked 14 shifts for Carewatch in York without sufficient training and a CRB check. The programme failed to say that for 13 of them she was working alongside another experienced carer and that her clear CRB return is dated 31 December. This was held up by the Christmas holidays.
• The programme featured a service user who was bleeding from her back passage and alleged medical support came the following day. It showed the carer phoning, for advice, a colleague who had more experience of this particular service user. Carewatch alerted the service user’s GP, who was in control of the situation, and instructed Carewatch to call the district nurse the following day.