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Council criticised over Plan Care scandal
BUCKS County Council should have acted quicker in the Plan Care scandal.
That is the view of Bucks County Council opposition leader Mary Baldwin.
Mrs Baldwin has blasted the authority for failing to take a more proactive approach to complaints received about the county council’s contracted domiciliary care firm Plan Care.
“I don’t understand how things got into such a state without Bucks County Council being aware of it,” she said.
“I don’t think Plan Care can be trusted at all. With the power of hindsight it was a mistake to hire them – but Plan Care was a reputable company at the time.
“The County Council simply didn’t act quickly enough. I’m of the belief that even if there’s just one or two complaints, they need to be looked into straight away.
“When it’s people’s lives and health, you don’t wait.
“I would like to see (cabinet member) Patricia Birchley apologise to the affected families and to promise it won’t happen again.”
Mrs Birchley said the council plans to give Plan Care until May to improve.
After six months has passed the care firm’s performance with then be reviewed.
“I understand the comments from the Care Quality Commission,” she said.
“For example, care plans should have been tailored to people’s needs and late calls affect people’s lives.
“However, the county council did do the best it could to protect people at the time.
“We are now monitoring the situation very carefully, and everyone I talk to says Plan Care is doing a much better job – with the number of complaints having dropped dramatically.
“The needs of our residents are our prime concern – indeed, I feel confident that we have done the most we can to remedy the situation.
“We are speaking to Plan Care regularly too, as we as a council want to be certain people are receiving the very best quality of care possible.”
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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Comments
There are 7 comments to this article
Page 1 of 1
JR
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 09:30 PM@ Aylesbury duck WTF? Tell us you are kidding??? If this is true then I think the Herald should be doing a serious expose of an abuse of public funds. (and now someone will be here to tell us how these people have paid for the trip themselves (but will later claim it all back on exes!)
Aylesbury Duck
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 10:10 AMThey have no comprehension of how to save money without cutting front line services, they do this at the same time as people from Bucks County Council are attending a seminar at the moment, in of all places, Dubai, all right for some, at our expence.
JR
Saturday, February 4, 2012 at 10:07 AMThe overpaid hierarchy at b c c decided they could save money by closing home care and farming out that service to private providers - so they chose plan care. How? a simple google search reveals many negative comments about this company. The overpaid hierarchy at b c c decided they could save money by closing meals on wheels and farming out that service to private providers. A simple google search reveals many negative comments about the company chosen. Anyone see a pattern here?
JR
Friday, February 3, 2012 at 06:35 PMFreedom of speech not a strength of this website is it?
JR
Friday, February 3, 2012 at 06:34 PMSo, any comment slagging off the overpaid in BCC instantly goes to moderation - and never sees the light of day? So much for freedom of speech. next thing we know is the government will be turning off our internet.
JR
Friday, February 3, 2012 at 06:33 PMAll these overpaid idiots working at the higher levels in the council seriously thought they could save money by scrapping the home care service and paying private firms to do the same job - a simple google search would have told these idiots all they ever needed to know - in much the same way as when a similar group of overpaid idiots scrapped the meals on wheels service & brought in an external provider. Again, a simple google search told us this was another bunch of cowboys - but BCC still went ahead with their plans. When oh when will they learn?
LocalBoy
Friday, February 3, 2012 at 10:40 AMIf you always employ the company that quotes the lowest figure you will often end up in trouble. Birchley said, "The needs of our residents are our prime concern". I question this. I think that money is their prime concern. In many things that BCC do money should be a major concern, but not when it comes to the care of residents.
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