…and evidence of this can be found in Walsall !

Nearly three quarters of councils limit homecare visits for the elderly, ill and disabled to fifteen minutes, a new report reveals.

Suffering Alone at Home, published by the public service union Unison, found 74% of homecare workers who responded felt they did not have enough time to provide dignified care for the elderly and disabled people they visited.

‘I have 15 minutes to take someone to the toilet, wash their hands, prepare a nutritional meal and try to have a conversation,’ one homecare worker told Unison.

In 2014 the public service union published a similar report that also found 74% of local authorities were regularly using 15-minute visits.

The lack of change is, Unison argues, the result of the difficult financial climate councils are working in. The union also fears the situation will get worse.

The 2015 study is based on an online survey of 1,100 homecare workers and data obtained from a Freedom of Information request to the 152 local authorities in England that commission social care visits.

Suffering Alone at Home learnt 61% of care workers said visits of just a quarter of an hour meant they frequently had to rush the care of people who were over 90 years old.

It also found 57% have been asked to provide personal care in 15 minutes or less with an elderly person they have never met before, and 85% said they regularly didn’t even have time for a conversation during some homecare visits.

Nearly a third said they have no time to address people’s personal hygiene needs such as washing, and just under a quarter reported they have no time to take people to the toilet.

49% said 15 minutes wasn’t long enough to prepare a nutritional meal, and, even more worryingly, 49% said the shortness of the visit meant there was no time to assess any change in the person’s health.

One homecare worker told Unison: ‘I used to care for a lady of 103 years old. I was given 15 minutes at night to change her into nightwear and make a drink. She was so alert and friendly and always offered me a drink but I never had time. I hated it.’

Unison general secretary Dave Prentis said: ‘It is heartbreaking and distressing that many elderly and disabled people are not being cared for in a humane and dignified manner. Homecare workers have shared their harrowing stories with a strong sense of sadness, guilt, anger, and ultimately disgust, at a broken homecare system.

‘Eye-watering cuts imposed by the government mean councils are still booking the shortest possible visits to care for vulnerable, frail and isolated elderly people. Homecare workers are often the only face some people see all day, and they are a lifeline – only they can call for help and ensure that the housebound people they care for are fed, washed and well.’

Referring to the 2% social care precept announced in last November’s Spending Review, Mr Prentis continued: ‘Although the government is going to allow local authorities to raise council tax to fund social care, the crisis is so great that any extra cash will barely touch the sides. It will also be of little help to deprived areas – where the need for home care visits is greater.

‘With the challenge of an ageing population living longer, care planning and adequate funding for social care should be a government priority and it clearly is not. Ministers should stop passing the social care buck to councils, and dig deep to find the cash from Treasury coffers to provide dignified care for the elderly. Rushed 15 minute homecare visits should have no place in a modern, caring society.’