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Home Care - Bristol fails its residents and workers

28th February 2007

For immediate release

Bristol's plans to privatise its Home Care Service will sacrifice the best interests of staff and those they care for, says the Green Party

Tess Green, Green Party candidate for Southville, widely tipped to be elected in May's council election, said:

"The Green Party believes the priority for the care of vulnerable people must be what's best for them, not what provides a private profit.

"Of course elderly people should receive services helping them stay in their own homes as long as possible but for some people this option is neither safe nor what they want. For these people we need good quality residential care. "

"Economies in the Health Service and in council budgets mean there's less residential care available, and that has meant a huge strain on the Home Care Service.

"This is not the time to weaken it, as the Cabinet wishes, by privatising it. "

"The Government's own Office of Public Service Reform accepts that the UK Public Services are the most efficient in Europe. The private sector could only deliver services more cheaply by driving down staff pay and conditions. Carers both in Home Care services and Residential Homes are not well paid and as a result it is often difficult to recruit suitable staff or to keep staff. Many Homes now are staffed largely through agencies. That's more expensive for the council and it means residents have little continuity of care, and no chance of building a good relationship with the workers they depend on."

"There is also the issue of equal pay. Caring work is mainly done by women, and as such is often very poorly paid. The women who carry out this type of work are usually committed to their clients and so put up with poor pay and conditions of service, but is it right that as a society we reward them so poorly for such essential work? Fair pay is less likely to happen in the private sector where often profits depend on getting the work done as cheaply as possible."

"Finally there is the issue of quality. Vulnerable people should be cared for by staff who are adequately trained, managed and supported. Short cuts in this area lead to scandals of cruel and exploitative care. Again this is less likely in the public sector which is subjected to government and public scrutiny."

Note

Bristol Green Party supports the local and national 'Keep Our NHS Public' Campaign

Contact:

Tess Green, Tel. 0117 985 2795

Peter Goodwin (Green Party Press Officer) 01275 543280