Domiciliary care change won’t affect clients insists Trust

One reader contacted the Star to express concern the centralisation of administrative and supervisory staff would have a negative impact on the care provided in Lisburn. However, the Trust insisted the move out of the Lagan Valley Hospital will improve the standard of care for service users.

“Nearly 400 older people in the whole Lisburn area rely on domiciliary care services to stay safely in their own homes,” said the reader. “Until now those services have been managed from the Lagan Valley Hospital site but plans are underway to push them out of there and send them to Downpatrick.

“No one has asked care workers how they will manage if their nearest source of help is nearly 30 miles away. No one has asked older people what they think about this madness.”

However, the Trust have insisted modernisation and reform are essential. “The South Eastern Trust is committed to the continual improvement in the quality and standard of the care and services we provide,” said a spokesperson for the Trust. “To effectively achieve this for Domiciliary Care Services we need to reform and modernise our Domiciliary Care Agencies.

“By amalgamating the Down and Lisburn Domiciliary Care Agencies, Domiciliary Area Managers will be freed from admin tasks and enable them to increase the monitoring and reviewing of the services we provide. This amalgamation of offices will mean that Area Managers will be able to do more home visits and ensure that the quality of our Domiciliary Care Services meets the DHSSPS Minimum Standards.”

She continued: “We will continue to provide and to prioritise the importance of support of the Domiciliary Care workforce through formal and informal supervision and appraisal sessions. To ensure that care staff are not disadvantaged by this move we will be retaining a satellite office on our existing Lisburn site and the Area Managers have also been advised that they can use other Trust facilities as required.

“It is imperative that our staff have the support of their colleagues and to address this we will continue to ensure that Team meetings will be held in local areas.”

Lagan Valley MLA Paul Givan said he had met with the Trust to discuss the plans.

“I have been assured by the Trust that these changes are being made to maximise efficiencies in the administration of how domiciliary care is provided in Lisburn and that Area Managers will have greater opportunity to get out on the ground and ensure the best possible care is being delivered at the front line to our older population in the community,” said Mr Givan.

“As more people are being cared for at home and their needs become increasingly complex I recognise the need for the Trust to adapt the way they operate to meet these demands ensuring the best care possible is being provided.

“These changes should be made in consultation with employees and any negative impacts for administration staff should be taken on board and resolved as far as possible to everyone’s satisfaction,” he concluded.

julieann.spence@ulserstar.co.uk