Homecare workers must have more support

MP for the West Cornwall and Isles of Scilly constituency of St Ives, Andrew George, has called on the Government to give low paid homecare workers the support they deserve.

In a Commons debate this morning, Mr George called for:

• A living wage for care workers (currently £7.20 per hour)
• Travel time between visits is part of salaried time
• A mileage rate (proposed minimum of 35 pence per mile) paid to travelling care workers
• A minimum visit time of 45 minutes in exceptional cases but at least one hour for most visits, especially if it involves at least two of the following procedures for non/semi ambient clients; getting out of bed, dressing/undressing, toileting, feeding, washing, and mobility support
• The introduction of an efficient and effective arrival and departure reporting/recording system
• Support for registration of care workers, including formal structured annual training to retain qualification

 

Mr George said: “All parties want to cut costs in healthcare. That means fewer hospital beds and more care provided at home and more for the lowest paid to perform.

“If we wanted to create the right conditions for a care crisis then heaping more work on lowly paid staff who are expected to do the work few others want to do in an unfeasibly short time is a good way of going about it. The Government must get on top of this before the situation gets worse. There’s already a budget driven race to the bottom. That’s got to stop.”

 

Take Andrew George MP’s 2013 survey here, and let him know your views on the NHS, paying for care, regional pay and other matters. You could win a hamper from the House of Commons shop too.