A major campaign is being organised to oppose 15-minute home care visits to vulnerable elderly and disabled people in Wales.
The drive is being organised Care Forum Wales, who believe the visits deprive people of their dignity and put many of them at risk.
They welcomed a Government review into the practice which they described as intolerable and stressed there was an urgent need for action.
The issue was top of the agenda at the Five Nations conference in Cardiff – which represents care organisations from across the UK and Eire – hosted by Care Forum Wales.
Mario Kreft MBE, the Chair of Care Forum Wales and a founder member of the Five Nations group, said: “It’s a growing phenomenon and it’s putting intolerable pressure on the system.
“We’re very concerned around appropriate commissioning for domiciliary care services.
“It is vital that we commission for quality so that it can be built in to the services we provide and create a profession to be proud of.
“The great strength of our organisation is of course it’s based in the four home countries and the Republic of Ireland.
“It’s unacceptable for somebody to have access simply to such a short period of time for support, and it makes it impossible for the provider to give the appropriate service. Everybody loses out.
“This is going to be a major campaign because essentially it is about championing basic human rights.
“I think the general public across the five nations will be very pleased that we are adding our voice, not from a point of view of what is good for the care sector or the care businesses, but actually putting people first and making sure that people are treated fairly.”
According to Mr Kreft, the Five Nations group was also concerned that people living in care homes often lost access to free primary care like physiotherapy and dentistry.
He added: “The availability of primary care seems to be an issue right across the UK.
“When is where somebody would receive in their own homes, for example a physiotherapy service or the dietician or so forth. In many places it is incredibly difficult.
“It appears that appears that people lose the right the primary care they received when they were living at home – and that the authorities believe the care homes should be picking up the tab.
“Denying people access to vital services is tantamount to denying them there basic human rights.
“We don’t think that’s right so we’re actually going to conduct a piece of work to quantify that and we think it’s a very serious issue for all of the nations.
“It is an issue all of the members will be bringing to the attention to the appropriate people in government, and obviously in our case the Older People’s Commissioner.”
The Five Nation group also had a VIP visitor, Wales’s First Minister, Carwyn Jones, who was the first head of government to come to a Five Nations meeting. Mr Jones said: “Care Forum Wales was launched on St David’s day in 1993 and from those early days it has led the way in putting service users at the heart of its work.
“It was also instrumental in setting up this Five Nations Group and it is a pleasure to welcome you all back to Cardiff once again.
“In Wales we pride ourselves as being a Nation of ‘firsts’. The NHS was born in Wales, we appointed the first Commissioners for Children and Older People; and published the first Strategy for Older People in the UK.
By building a strong working relationship with the Welsh Government over the last 10 years, Care Forum Wales has provided significant support to that agenda and our commitment to continuous improvement in care provision in Wales.”
Mr Kreft thanked the First Minister for taking time out of his busy schedule to attend the Five Nations conference.
He said: “I think our approach to sharing best practice is what the Five Nations is all about and it is indeed something that the First Minister remarked upon, about how it was important to work collaboratively but also to have that autonomy that devolution brings.”
