Mackem Beefy

Review of DALE CARE COMPANION SERVICES

Firstly the good.

Firstly the good.

The standard of care my mother received from Dale Care staff ranged from very good to excellent. I will single out one member of care staff especially for praise, that being "Anne" whom my mother came to know quite well. This went beyond actual care in that it gave my mother a chance to interact socially with other people, something she d found difficulty in doing due to her repeated illnesses.

Now the not so good.

Firstly, Dale Care failed to initially notify their care staff on a small number of occasions that my mother had been admitted to hospital leading to unexpected visits in the days following, despite my thoroughness in informing Dale Care of any hospital admissions. Unexpected visits normally occurred in first five days after admission.

Secondly, if regular care staff were unavailable or off work, other staff covering for them on rare occasions would ask to turn up far earlier than my mother s preference for a 10.30 am visit. Asking this question is not a problem in itself and we were willing to show some flexibility and to negotiate provided there was sufficient warning.

However, in one instance we received a phone call on a Friday evening from the carer on cover where we specifically responded that a 7.30 am the following morning was not realistic (I had personal arrangements making this very difficult). The carer on cover turned up shortly after 7.30 am on Saturday anyway, her apologising and saying she could not fit us in any other way.

Thirdly, on a very small number of occasions when my mother s more usual care staff were unavailable, I noted more junior members of care staff wanted to use our landline. When I challenged this, they said it was to log their visit to tend to my mother s needs with Dale Care (I have seen other reviews also saying this). I thus query if at times newly employed Dale Care staff do not have company-supplied mobile phones / personal organisers at least at the beginning of their employment and these are supplied once Dale Care are able to supply them. Do newly employed staff sometimes use the client's landline in preference to their own mobile phones in these circumstances? This is not fair on carer (placed in awkward situation) or client (they or relatives rightfully will ask what is going on).

With regard to the third point, you really need to ensure your staff have the correct equipment to avoid this or in the event of equipment break-down, ask your staff to ask permission from the client or relatives to use their phone as this behaviour came across as strange and unprofessional.

A letter has been sent to Dale Care covering these points. Because of the above issues, I can only give a rating of 3 out of 5. This is a shame, as the standard of care itself was faultless.