15-minute care visits on the rise, warns charity

Leonard Cheshire Disability said that the number of 15-minute care visits are on the rise, despite “major concerns” the short visits deprive people of essential care.

Data obtained from 63 local authorities (LAs) by the charity found that three-fifths now commission 15-minute visits, and the charity said it should not be encouraged.

A new report by the charity said that the short visits “simply do not allow enough time to deliver good-quality care”.

The clock is ticking and this crucial Care Bill vote is Peers’ last chance to stop this practice for good – Clare Pelham

Clare Pelham, chief executive of Leonard Cheshire Disability, called for care visits to be at least 30 minutes long.

“Every day, many disabled and older people in the UK receive personal care, it is disgraceful to force disabled people to choose whether to go thirsty or to go to the toilet by providing care visits as short as 15 minutes long,” she said.

“Most of us need 40 minutes to get up, get washed and dressed and have breakfast in the morning. None of us would want our family and friends to receive ‘care’ visits as short as 15 minutes… It is vital that parliament backs our call to end the indignity of rushed care which thousands of disabled people face every day. The clock is ticking and this crucial Care Bill vote is Peers’ last chance to stop this practice for good.”

‘Underfunded’ LAs

But the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (Adass) argued that sometimes the short visits are “fully adequate”.

Adass president Sandie Keene said that in some cases 15-minute visits are “fully justified, and fully adequate”, adding: “It is totally wrong to believe that all tasks need more than 15 minutes to carry out. And frankly naive to believe that simply by abolishing 15-minute slots a magic wand will have been waved, and improvements automatically achieved in our care services. It doesn’t work like that.”

Katie Hall, chair of the local government association’s community wellbeing board said that significant funding cuts to councils meant that LAs are struggling to meet the rising demand for home care visits.

“Unless local government finance is put on a sustainable footing social care will remain substantially underfunded and services will suffer as a result,” she said, adding that 15-minute visits should never be the sole basis for care, and should only be part of a wider comprehensive care plan.