Where the heart is

We designed a survey for people receiving council and privately funded home care services across Dorset. This aimed to find out how satisfied people are with the care they receive and how they feel about their carers. It also investigates if people know how to raise a complaint about the home care or provider agency.

It was noted that most people would like to see the same care workers regularly or at least have more continuity in care workers in order to develop a trusting relationship. People would like to be listened to more and have more choice and flexibility in their care services.

Most people reported being happy with the care they receive. Continuity in care workers and consistency in care were very important. The issues raised were around communication between the service providers and the NHS acute care, primary care, community care and home care service providers. It was also determined from the findings that there needs to be an overall review of the commissioning process to ensure sustainability continuity and equity.

This report was produced by the previous Healthwatch Dorset service provider, Healthwatch Dorset CIC.