Crosswords0 min ago
Annoyed With Care Cover!
29 Answers
You may know, my sister and i do our own homecare business. We take off 2 weeks a year to take the children away in the summer. Because we obviously can't leave people in the lurch, we ask them if they want to arrange their own, or we cover it, charge as usual and pay the cover, so clients don't have extra bills and people to deal with.
We asked Carer friends as much as possible, but of course, they have their own jobs, so we covered the rest with a very big, well-known Agency.
They have missed loads of calls, refused to change a bed ("I've only been booked for 15 mins". And the longest they have stayed at a house, is 15 minutes. We booked them for an hour. Now the invoices are coming through and they are trying to charge for an hour care, when they have sent someone for 15 minutes.
Sorry, bit of a rant, but taking the p!
We asked Carer friends as much as possible, but of course, they have their own jobs, so we covered the rest with a very big, well-known Agency.
They have missed loads of calls, refused to change a bed ("I've only been booked for 15 mins". And the longest they have stayed at a house, is 15 minutes. We booked them for an hour. Now the invoices are coming through and they are trying to charge for an hour care, when they have sent someone for 15 minutes.
Sorry, bit of a rant, but taking the p!
Answers
It must be most distressing for your service users and annoying for you. If they had written copies of the care plans, the tasks stated, the duration and frequency of visits stated which they agreed to, and they fail to comply then surely they are in breach of contract. I suspect it may be difficult to prove after only a two week period. Could you take legal advice...
18:11 Thu 29th Aug 2013
It must be most distressing for your service users and annoying for you.
If they had written copies of the care plans, the tasks stated, the duration and frequency of visits stated which they agreed to, and they fail to comply then surely they are in breach of contract. I suspect it may be difficult to prove after only a two week period. Could you take legal advice about the payments. Alternatively could any of your service users or carers write to the local paper saying what a rubbish service this big company provided
If they had written copies of the care plans, the tasks stated, the duration and frequency of visits stated which they agreed to, and they fail to comply then surely they are in breach of contract. I suspect it may be difficult to prove after only a two week period. Could you take legal advice about the payments. Alternatively could any of your service users or carers write to the local paper saying what a rubbish service this big company provided
Oh sorry! Thanks, all. I pressed top left of screen and couldn't see it. Oops.
I suppose it's not really a question as such, but it is frustrating. I have emailed the company and apparently "hoovering, cleaning, laundry" is "confusing". Some of the clients were fine with it, but said they were very quick (they don't know they are being charged an hour). Makes me wonder how many people can't or don't want to make a fuss and get taken advantage of.
I suppose it's not really a question as such, but it is frustrating. I have emailed the company and apparently "hoovering, cleaning, laundry" is "confusing". Some of the clients were fine with it, but said they were very quick (they don't know they are being charged an hour). Makes me wonder how many people can't or don't want to make a fuss and get taken advantage of.
You are such a lovely lot on here.
You are right in that they don't give travel time. I know myself, from when I've worked for agencies, you have a call, say 9-10 and next one is 10-10:30, but twenty minutes away! But they have agreed to an hour's care, not suggested travel time on top. 15 min call and 45 mins travel couldn't be very worthwhile.
We got lots of big hugs, svejk. But i feel guilty :-(
You are right in that they don't give travel time. I know myself, from when I've worked for agencies, you have a call, say 9-10 and next one is 10-10:30, but twenty minutes away! But they have agreed to an hour's care, not suggested travel time on top. 15 min call and 45 mins travel couldn't be very worthwhile.
We got lots of big hugs, svejk. But i feel guilty :-(
Hi Naomi. Most agencies have a system where the carer rings a free number at the beginning and end of call, which will record how long they are there for. I don't know whether we would be entitled to see those logs. I have e-mailed to query the time on invoice. They haven't yet disputed that, so I'll see what they reply.
The problem is that most clients would sign anything if asked by the carer. The phone system produces a computer log which states which carer was in which house, time of arriving and time of leaving. They can't "fiddle" that, because you have to actually be in the house (use client's phones). But yes, i might ask them for a printout for our clients. That would certainly tell us how long they were in the house, at least. Thank you.
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