Care for older and disabled people in Brent who receive care from Allied Healthcare are facing uncertainty tonight with the news that the company is seeking to off-load its contracts to other providers.
The Care Quality Commission had warned the company last month that it had concerns about its financial viability and issued a notice to this effect. Some council had already begun the process of finding new providers although at the time of writing it is not clear whether this includes Brent.
Allied Healthcare claimed that the CQC statement had 'negatively impacted' on the company leading to loss of customers an d affecting staff retention and recruitment.
The BBC said tonight that it understood the company had been able to extend its credit for three weeks.
Ian Hudspeth, of the Local Government Association LGA, told the BBC that councils had "robust contingency plans in place".
"Councils are confident of ensuring care for people affected and are also focused on retaining the highly valued staff that deliver these services to help keep the transition in business ownership as smooth as possible.'In 2014 the Care Quality Commission inspected Allied Healthcare provision in Brent and found it needed improvement due to concern over the safety of its clients. LINK
Cllr Harbi Farah, Brent Council Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care told Wembley Matters:
We have a contingency plan to ensure vulnerable adults in Brent are supported, this is a priority for me and the department. I will update you.
1 comment:
Received via email: Thanks Martin, I have been aware of this since the CQC reported some time ago, that they were concerned that Allied had run out of money.
Allied kept denying it until their announcement tonight around 5pm. When I last checked around 2015, Allied had approximately 800 clients across Brent, with most of them centred around Wembley. But I could not find anything more recent to back up that they still have 800.
Brent council, as you probably already know, send out stories up to about 3pm on a Friday. Today I saw that Alan Davies of Copland having to pay back £1.4M. which is a big Wembley story but the Allied story broke too late for the council.
And that is where you come in, as I doubt that the council have set their emergency contingency plans into operation. It was set up after Grenfell and it was headed by Cllr. McLennan, unless she has passed it to another Cllr by now.
Then again, the council might argue that as it only affects some of the 800, they may not consider it as an emergency but it may be too late e.g. when somebody dies as the result of their carer not showing up to give them their medication.
So thanks Martin for taking the initiative once again on behalf of Brent's most vulnerable. The BBC are now covering the story but as a Nationwide issue but does not mention Brent in particular.
Post a Comment