UK families say that care services for older people have got worse in the past five years, particularly home care services, according to reviews reported to the Good Care Guide.
More than two-fifths of reviews of home care agencies in 2016 rated them as poor or bad for quality of service and for value for money. This is particularly worrying given government policy is for more older people to be cared for at home and supported outside hospitals or care homes.
Based on an analysis of 9,000 reviews left by families on the Good Care Guide website, the latest research shows:in 2012, 22.7% of home care agencies were rated poor or bad for quality of service by older people and their families – by 2016 this had almost doubled to 41.6% of home care services getting poor or bad reviews, and the percentage of reviews rating home care agencies as poor or bad for value for money rose from 23.4% in 2012 to 41.3% in 2016; care homes were rated poor or bad for quality of care by 11.8% of reviews in 2012 and by 2016 this had increased to 25.9% of reviews. On value for money, care homes were rated as poor or bad by 12.4% of reviews in 2012 and this had more than doubled to 27.2% in 2016.
The analysis is published as the Good Care Guide marks its fifth anniversary.Good Care Guide was launched in 2012 and features over 65,000 registered providers of childcare (nurseries and other group childcare) and adult care (care homes and home care agencies).
Stephen Burke, director of Good Care Guide and director of United for All Ages, says: “Poor reviews for the care of older people reflect the growing concerns about the funding of care and the care crisis.
"With our ageing population and more older people needing care at home, it’s critical that families can access home care services they can rely on. As government puts more of the responsibility onto families for providing and paying for care for older people, we expect their reviews to get even tougher about the quality of care. We must learn from what families think about care.”
