Montgomeryshire Assembly Member, Russell George, has called on Powys County Council to issue a formal apology to all Powys residents that have been affected by the changes it has implemented to adult domiciliary care in the county.
The AM has written to the Cabinet Member with responsibility for Adult Care, Cllr Darren Mayor, expressing real concern that the Council’s handling of service changes in adult social care have been ‘badly mismanaged’.
In his most recent piece of correspondence to Cllr Mayor, Mr George said that there was still ‘major problems’ with its transfer of domiciliary care services and that the concerns of many individuals that were previously raised [by the AM], were still unresolved or had not been addressed. He added that those concerns had nothing to do with ‘alleged disruption’ attributed to out-going contractors but were rather episodes of unacceptable mismanagement.
Commenting, Mr George said: “As far as I am concerned, Powys Council has got its service transformation process badly wrong and it needs to issue a formal apology for it.
“This is not just an issue of ‘a few cases’ as the Council has stated but has been a situation of complete chaos.
“My office has been inundated with complaints from vulnerable residents and their families who have been left high and dry by the changes in domiciliary care.
“Incidents that have been recorded with me relate to care providers not turning up at the appropriate times, care plans not being adhered to or care providers not turning up at all.
“This is all completely unacceptable when you are dealing with the most vulnerable residents in our society.
“If service transformation is going to work, the process needs to be properly managed and all the necessary safeguards need to be put in place first before you move ahead with that change.
“It’s one thing if implemented changes to stationary procurement goes wrong but when you are dealing with people’s health and well-being, there is no room for error.
“This is a very serious issue and the Council needs to move swiftly to rectify all the problems that have occurred and try and regain the trust and confidence of those who have been badly let down.”
