Low staff morale at Leicestershire Council care homes, says report

The care home service management capabilities of Leicester City Council have been severely criticised in a report from the Social Care Association.

A leaked report compiled between February and May last year, showing the results of interviews with employees, paint a picture of disorganisation and incompetence.

Included amongst the many criticisms recorded from carers, who the report allowed to remain anonymous, are claims that little action is taken on the continual failure to keep to budgets, together with the authority’s failure to monitor its workforce, with one worker reflecting they had ‘never known anyone to be sacked’.

The report also records that staff had been suffering from low morale and that homes were poorly placed to deal with certain daily care requirements, such as incontinence with used incontinence pads left on lounge chairs at over half of its homes.

Despite a seemingly grim picture, however, it would seem that at least some residents retain an affection for their care homes, with the council receiving a number of letters this week, in response to the negativity of the report, from service users and their relatives who felt the conclusions to have been ‘harsh’.

The council’s social care director Deb Watson. said: ‘It raises important issues, but only a small number of these were issues where we needed to take immediate action’.

Although the council had pleased care home campaigners by announcing it would delay a decision on the potential closure of six to eight homes for two years, the future of public sector care in the city clearly remains an issue of some anxiety and it would seem the homes still have enough support to fight for their future if further reviews are to consider closures once again.