IN response to Healthwatch's report, Bolton Council's cabinet member for adult safeguarding and adult social care, Cllr Asif Ibrahim, has provided the following response.

“We agree with service users that home care needs improving, not only in Bolton but in Greater Manchester, and all GM authorities are committed to driving up standards of care as part of the devolution of health and social care. It is always disappointing to learn that care hasn’t been delivered to high standards and we take concerns like this extremely seriously, followed by immediate action to try and rectify the situation.

“We work very closely with Healthwatch Bolton all year round and commission them to collate evidence and compile reports on all health and care services in the borough in order to help inform and develop our arrangements for commissioning these services. This report has already informed our current re-procurement process. The report covers all aspects of home care provision, not just the companies commissioned by Bolton Council, but we have listened to the feedback and the overview has enabled us to highlight the most important factors when redesigning the service.

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“As a result, the new tender specification, which commences on August 1, includes incentives for home care providers to strive for a higher level of quality of care. In return for a premium, providers must achieve continuity of carer, where they don’t exceed a limit of staff providing care per week; timeliness of visits, where they have to attend visits no more than 30 minutes before or after the allocated time; and quality of carer, where providers must ensure their staff have the accredited care certificate. This is what Healthwatch and our users told us were the three most important aspects of quality home care provision.

“We will of course continue to monitor homecare provision. We do this every month with each provider using a wide range of intelligence and information including that provided with the help of organisations like Healthwatch, and we would like to reassure service users and their families that we value their input and are working hard to create better services for them.”