Home care under fire: why Panorama documentary could be damaging
Home care under fire: why Panorama documentary could be damaging
By Paul Roberts
Caringforyourbusiness.co.uk
April 8 2009
Homecare – one of the few growth industries in recession-hit Britain – comes under the public spotlight tomorrow night.
Millions will watch the BBC Panorama investigative documentary ‘Britain’s Homecare Scandal’, being screened at 9pm on BBC One.
The emotion-charged title of the programme gives a clear indication of what to expect – a hard-hitting, no-punches-pulled look at the home care industry.
Details published on the BBC website says Panorama will go undercover to ‘expose a world of chaos and alleged neglect in the care of the elderly’.
The programme will show how carers on minimum wages – ‘often with very little training – are frequently frustrated by poor management as they try to provide decent care’.
So, we have a number of clues of what we will see and no doubt there will be many uncomfortable – and potentially shocking – moments to endure.
A leading professional association for more than 1,670 domiciliary care providers in Great Britain and Northern Ireland, fears the programme will cause unnecessary alarm.
The United Kingdom Home Care Association (UKHCA) says it hopes the documentary will not ‘create unnecessary anxiety for the 466,000 people who currently receive support in their own homes’.
Sadly, my 35 years’ experience as a journalist tells me that ‘Britain’s Homecare Scandal’ will do precisely that.
The dramatic use of the words ‘scandal’, ‘world of chaos’ and ‘neglect’ – and other emotive language to be used in the programme – will provoke national outrage.
There will be calls for home care businesses, local authorities and the Government to take urgent steps to put things right.
But, history tells us that, however balanced the content may be, many viewers will only remember the grim, shocking and controversial revelations.
They won’t recall any references – if there are any – to the good work being done day in, day out for the vast majority of people receiving home care.
Of course, Panorama have a right – and a moral duty – to unveil bad practice in standards of care within the home care industry.
No doubt their attempts to get to the truth will be pursued fairly and rigorously. All of us would expect nothing less.
The problem with a documentary of this nature is that, through editing and delivery, it can appear very one-sided rather than even-handed.
How should it be done?
In my opinion, the best way is to split such a documentary in two: presenting the allegations and responses in one half and the good work done by an industry under attack in the second half.
The documentary may well be longer – but viewers would have a better opportunity of putting into context allegations raised as the result of an undercover investigation.
‘Britain’s Homecare Scandal’ is expected to focus on low pay, inadequate training and poor management and is expected to imply that large organisations are driving down the price of care.
In a statement issued this week, the UKHCA says it accepts that investigative journalism is one of the ways that issues in the health and social care sector can be highlighted. ‘However, we hope that the documentary will do so in a way that does not create unnecessary anxiety for the 466,000 people who use homecare services, or their families.
‘Some of the language in the pre-release information may alarm users, their families and care workers, just at the very time that the Department of Health is trying to encourage more recruits into the system to reduce staff shortages.
‘We hope that the programme will do justice to the reality that the vast majority of people using homecare highly value the services provided to them, and appreciate the skills and dedication of the 381,000 staff providing their care across the UK.’
The UKHCA says it understands that companies identified in the programme have had the right to reply to allegations – including those relating to low pay – in advance of the broadcast.
UKHCA chair Mike Padgham says: “We have worked tirelessly to raise this (low pay) as an issue which local authority commissioners must take seriously if they are to achieve the levels of recruitment and professional training of staff to which we all aspire.
“It is disingenuous of the programme makers to lay the levels of low pay at the door of providers themselves. As we have made clear in our publications and work with the media, homecare providers can only pay staff at levels which are allowed by the fees they receive.
“Providers would be delighted to be able to reward workers better and to raise the quality of service through more training and better retention of experienced staff, but regrettably this is often not possible under the current purchasing arrangements. Rather than a case of abuses by “big business”, this is a response to short sighted purchasing policies by local authorities, driven to make on-going efficiency savings set by central government.”
The UKHCA has been at the forefront of those pressing for adequate fee levels from local authorities. It has given evidence on the difficulties that poor commissioning creates for providers and for the quality and sustainability of the supply of care services.
It has highlighted the huge disparity between the cost of homecare services run by councils and the independent sector. ‘By 2007-8, the gross average hourly cost of council-run services had increased to £22.30, while councils had kept the average rate paid to their independent and voluntary sector providers at just £12.30’, says the UKHCA.
‘Overall one estimate suggests that wage and benefit costs of workers in the independent sector are some 22% less than for in-house services, leading to a movement of staff from the independent sector to in-house services to seek better terms and conditions’.
I would hope that the UKHCA statement will be included in the Panorama documentary. But time constraints will almost certainly mean that the key points within it will be lost amid the allegations about to be raised.
I would love to be proved wrong.
Paul Roberts
Caringforyourbusiness.co.uk
Roberts Consultants, specialists in developing home care businesses
May 12th, 2009 at 7:49 pm
No way!
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