7:50am Thursday 23rd April 2009
By Matt Smith
A COMPANY brought in to provide home care for the elderly and disabled in Southampton has been suspended from taking more work just months after winning the contract.
Health chiefs at the city council have stopped new placements with Care UK due to concerns over the quality of care it is providing.
Tory council leaders brought in sweeping changes to home care contracts in November affecting as many as 1,200 residents. The number of companies paid to provide “domiciliary” care services was reduced from about 19 to five to cut costs.
Care UK was awarded the new contract for most of the west of the city. The council said the firm was fulfilling just three-quarters of its expected care contract, but for commercial reasons, refused to say how many residents had transferred to its care.
Test MP Alan Whitehead said constituents had complained that they were receiving an “inferior” service from Care UK.
He said: “I welcome the council’s decision to finally suspend Care UK. It was very clear from what constituents were telling me that when Care UK were originally awarded the contracts to provide care in the west of the city, they would have great difficulty in providing it efficiently.
I think this does raise quite important questions about the whole way this care review has been conducted, and whether quality care was really given the priority in the review that it should have.”
A TV documentary earlier this month reported failings in the standard of care provided by Care UK in Harrow.
The firm was ditched by Hertfordshire Council just ten months after they had been awarded a £2.4m contract.
Southampton City Council’s head of health and community care Jane Brentor said Care UK had been closely monitored by the council, who had now decided to stop transferring new care provision to the company. She admitted the changes in Southampton had caused some distress but claimed “closer working” arrangements meant the council could spot problems more quickly and take “rigorous action”
A spokesman for Care UK said there had been “some short-term local difficulties”
when it took on extra work in the city. “These have been discussed with the council and we have agreed a strategy with them including bringing in experienced staff from the regional team to support the local managers and carrying out an intensive recruitment campaign,” she said.
She added Care UK had been providing high-quality care across Southampton for 14 years. The latest independent inspection rated the service as good and Care UK was working hard to ensure it continued to meet that high standard.
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