Report on Home Care 2022

As the city’s health and social care champion, we worked with partners including Salford Care Organisation and Salford City Council to invite the 1260 people currently using the service – which is delivered by a number of home care agencies – to complete the survey.

We received a total of 180 responses, and found:

• 15-minute visits are adequate for some and not for others. Of the people who responded to the survey, almost half are not satisfied with the length of these visits.
• Nearly half of respondents said that the care workers do not turn up at the expected time. Unpredictable timings of visits had a negative impact on medication, and also on toileting/personal care, amongst other areas, and there was a negative impact of care workers not turning up at all.
• Nearly a third of people who responded were not comfortable raising concerns. In many cases, respondents ticked a box indicating that they were happy or unsure on an issue but then went on to make a negative comment, which suggests a reluctance to give their true opinion. The idea that any complaint would affect the care provided was articulated as a concern in some survey responses.
• Nearly half of people surveyed found office staff unresponsive and unhelpful.
• Feedback showed that some agencies have higher levels of satisfaction than others, and that the care being delivered by some agencies was below average.