Tougher checks to crack down on rushed care visits announced

The government has confirmed that efforts are to be made to address the lack of time allotted to home care for elderly and disabled people.

From April 2014, the Care Quality Commission is proposing to look at whether home care visits are long enough to meet these patients' needs, with consideration given to how working conditions for staff might be impacting on care.

In particular, it will examine whether the service is able to respond to people's needs in the allocated time, whether care is delivered with compassion, dignity and respect, how many staff have zero-hour contracts and the levels of staff turnover.

This will prevent patients from being neglected and care workers from having to work over their hours to ensure basic care quality standards are upheld.

Care and support minister Norman Lamb said: "The current approach to home care is not fair on those who need support, it's not fair on care workers and it is stripping away the human element of caring."

Earlier this year, the government published a report showing that better support for working carers would help to bolster the UK economy and create significant savings for taxpayers.