THE WESTERN Trust has insisted an overhaul in the delivery of local homecare is aimed at improving the service, despite local carers telling the Herald the new system is causing upset and heartbreak.
This week a new homecare rota system, for both Trust and agency carers, came into force in the wider Enniskillen area. The changes, which have been co-ordinated by the Trust, are aimed at addressing pressures and increasing capacity in the system.
However, carers who have contacted the Herald claim the changes are seeing many agency carers, who unlike Trust carers do not get paid travel expenses, having their travel distances increased.
Moreover, they said the rota changes have seen carers given new clients, leaving many service users quite distressed at the prospect of now having to get to know a new carer.
“They have, across the board, literally pulled carers and put them in all different areas,” one carer told this paper.
“They are saying it’s to cut down on the travelling so you have more time and they can start getting people out of hospitals. But, we got our new rotas, and they haven’t cut down on the travelling.”
In fact, the carer said that she and other agency carers she knew had their travel distances significantly extended, however she said the Trust-employed carers she knew of had their travel distances shortened.
The carer said it appeared, from their point of view, that staff who were paid travel allowances were having their travelling reduced, while those who did not get paid expenses were having theirs extended. The Trust has denied this is the case.
The carer added she and her colleagues were even more worried about the impact the changes were having on service users, noting many had not been properly informed and had been left distraught when learning they were to lose the carers they had come to know and trust.
To read more on this story see this week’s Fermanagh Herald. Can’t get to the shop to collect your copy? No problem! You can download a copy straight to your device by following this link https://bit.ly/3gOl8G0
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