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A new report published by the think tank IPPR has concluded that due to a shortage of well-trained care staff, an increasing number of elderly people are receiving poor quality care at home.
IPPR researchers found a number of factors that appeared to be contributing to the UK’s failing home care system, including high staff turnover rates, an over-reliance on migrant workers and low wages. This situation appears to be worse in London, where as many as 75 per cent of home care workers are from overseas.
Care staff are under too much pressure to be able to spend more time with the person and properly assess their needs, and they have often not been given the proper care training. The report stated:
Previous research has shown that the majority of elderly people would like to remain in their homes for longer rather than moving into nursing home, but to do so requires the right level of home care.
IPPR Research Fellow Jonathan Clifton said:

“We need super carers high calibre people, paid at decent levels, with good career prospects, who are valued by society and equipped to provide personalised services for elderly people.”