15/10/2012 Inside Out West Midlands

Hello and welcome to inside out. This week, we have come to be Black

Country Living Museum, which celebrates the first and will stop

here, we are surrounded by life in the 1800. Tonight, will we have a

special programme focusing on a major issue of the 21st century.

Who cares for an ageing population? He is looking after mum and that?

Are the elderly safe in their own homes when the carers called? 23 of

the carers working there had criminal records for offences

including theft or assault. Also on show, who will care for you

when you're living longer? There is less money, so how will it add up?

There are cuts to public services and the politicians simply cannot

agree where to find the money. And in our final story, the painful

journey for the doctor who gave up work to look after her dad. A try

that bit. If you don't like it, you do not have to have it. If you have

it, you can have some cake. Are you going to have some?

That's all coming up on tonight's Over the summer, the inside out

team has been working on an investigation about home care and

we have been shocked by what we have uncovered. More than 500

allegations of abuse against home carers in the West Midlands over

the last year alone. We have also discovered that dozens of convicted

criminals have been working as carers. I followed one man's

journey to find out who was looking after his elderly mum.

Peter Taylor is about to discover the truth about his mother's debt.

I just want justice. For my mother and all the old people who have not

got someone to look after them. Dorothy Taylor died less than two

weeks after social services took charge of her care. But her son

blames himself. I was my mother's main carer. When we got the care

package set up by the council, I thought it would give clear break.

I didn't go over there, because I thought she was safe in care. I

blame myself for that. But the coroner's court revealed that care

workers could not have saved Dorothy Taylor's life, even if they

had done their job properly. But it is made clear she was left to fend

for herself for two days because carers simply didn't turn up.

are a lot of Dorothy Taylors out there who do not have families like

us. They just rely on the care people to the gaffer them.

Obviously, they're not being cared for. Now, Peter is determined to

find out why the care industry failed his mother. And whether he

should have done more to protect I am on my way to meet Peter to see

if we can help and uncover the truth. You contacted social

services for some help with your mother. What did you need?

Some help looking after her. Somebody to go in and make sure she

is OK, make her a cup of tea, give her some food. Helper with the

toilet. Just to give me a break because I was doing it three or

four times a day. Home care for all disabled people is almost entirely

provided by the private sector and with growing demand, it is now a

multi-million-pound industry. There are around 1,400 home care

providers in the Midlands. 50 are used by Birmingham City Council,

which chose Care 4U to look after Peter's mother. How much did you

know about the care provider? the time, nothing. I had never

heard of them. I just assumed because the council were providing

that care, but that the council double checks. But had they? And

what do we know about Care 4U? It is run by this man, he is an

electrician by trade. Now, he is running the family business, which

looks after 70 it elderly people on behalf of social services. 8

Freedom of Information reveals Birmingham City Council paid the

company more than �800,000 last year. So, is it any good? It turns

out the industry regulator did an inspection just six weeks after

Dorothy Taylor's death. The company failed to meet all seven basic

standards. Inspectors spotted something else. 22 care workers had

criminal records for offences including theft and assault. It

also appeared that other carers had not had their records check that

all. When the inspectors returned six months later, convicted

criminals were still working unsupervised in the homes of some

of the city's most vulnerable people. I should Peter what we

found. Many of the care workers working

there had criminal records for offences including theft and

assault. Theft and assault? Yes. Aren't they checked? It also

appeared that other carers had not have the records checks at all.

Unbelievable. And their judgment says quite clearly that the

registered provider was failing to safeguard people from abuse and

potential risks. And these are carers. We have also tracked down

someone who used to work for the company as a carer. Michelle Kelly

won a tribunal for her wrongful dismissal. In Peter's mother's case,

Keira did not turn up for days. Does that surprise you? Not from

this agency at all. Why? Because the concerns that I raised for

those kind of things. Staffs were Updating the pit to say they had

done certain things and that wasn't the case. Sometimes, they would not

even update that at all. You had no idea of what kind of care was

provided, whether or not someone had eaten and that was one

particular thing that I have raised that I never have response to.

And Michelle says staffs were not properly vetted, even after

allegations were made against them. There were specific complaints from

service users that had reported things and nothing had been done

with regards to that. Carers had not been removed from those

properties. Is it good enough? No, it is not. So what does Peter make

of what he has heard? I just feel more guilty now. I but I mother in

a dangerous situation.-I put my mother. The people there that cared

for her failed to meet the minimum requirements. So how come social

services continue to be a Care 4U to look after elderly people, and

is the company still putting people at risk? No one from Care 4U,

social services or the Care Quality Commission could take part in this

programme. Instead, they give us written statements. Care 4U blames

a previous member of staff for its problems. It says it has made

significant changes, hired new staff and learned valuable lessons.

Birmingham City Council and the Care Quality Commission told us

they launched a joint investigation following Dorothy Taylor's death

and carried out a series of inspections. In January, they found

the company still was not doing the required checks, but were satisfied

. They continue to monitor its progress. But his care for you an

isolated case? While it is difficult to say, because

surprisingly, up 40% of home care providers have not been inspected

by the current regulator. The Care Quality Commission plans to get

round to the Mall by next April. Even so, it has found a number of

companies across the Midlands failing to vet staff. Inspectors

found 13 companies were putting carers to work in people's homes

before carrying out their background checks. Andy eight for

not checking for previous convictions at all. All companies

continue to operate. So, should we really be worried? Are Freedom of

Information request also revealed that last year, there were more

than 500 allegations of abuse made against Homecare staff end of the

West Midlands. And here is a selection. Many described neglect,

thefts and errors handing out medication, some leading to

hospital admissions. Not all could be substantiated, but among those

that were, a carer who knocked a man down to the ground and then

tried to knock his bedroom door down. Another carer knocked a

vulnerable person out in the garden and another put a plastic bag over

a care and use a's head. This care worker in Birmingham, who had a

previous conviction for theft, was caught on camera trying to get into

a safe at the bottom of a wardrobe. It belongs to Trevor Thomas, who is

severely disabled. Michelle let us down and let her profession down as

well. I did give her a second chance and she manipulated us all.

It breaks your heart then when you actually see and know there are

things going on in your family's home that you're not happy with.

So how can we better protect people? The coroner who looked into

the death of Peter Taylor's mother believes there simply has to be

greater monitoring. I do not believe that there is any

organisation or Government department to actually go round

Birmingham at this moment and check that a carer who is supposed to be

going in to see Mrs Jones twice a day is actually doing it. I don't

think the Government could ever afford to pay for the type of so

provision that is necessary. But it could be done. Easily. By a

voluntary organisation, such as the independent monitoring board.

So, does the care industry except it needs to change? To find out, I

brought Peter Taylor to London to the offices of the organisation

that represents the home care industry. Hopefully, we will get

some answers today. Last year, hundreds of people in the Midlands

alleged that their carers had either abuse them more neglected

them. Can you honestly tell me that you think the system as it is is

working? Is you're telling me that there are

100 or more people... Hundreds. Hundreds. OK. Well, obviously, I

haven't seen the facts, but if you're telling me that is the case,

it seems there is a problem. Choosing a care provider is little

more than sticking a pin in a list. Absolutely not. It shouldn't be.

Hide you know you're going to get proper care, because it seems that

just going on the Care Quality Commission approved list is no

guarantee of professional care. think we should put this in the

context that most home care is very high quality and most people

receiving Homecare are satisfied with the care they receive, so why

would not want to go country to overboard and say everything is

rubbish. But obviously, we're worried about any instance where it

is not going right. We need a fundamental review of social care.

It has to be led by the Government. It has to be properly funded. There

are a lot of people in the sector working very hard trying to get it

right and there is still a lot of very good care. But there are also

some shortcomings, which are Are you glad you now know the

truth? Oh, yes. Before, if it was an isolated case, no one noticed.

If you would like more information about caring for an elderly

Her over next 20 years, the number of over 70s in the UK is expected

to jump to more than 10 million and all this at a time when councils

are having to face up to a big squeeze on their budgets. What can

be done when the sums don't appear to add up? The BBC's Home Editor

By wonder what it is like to be 80. If I lived that long, who is going

to be there to care for me when I cannot manage? And he was going to

pay the bill? None of us can know how much it will cost and you can

spend almost everything before the state stepped in. I'm in York

because in the City, some of the elderly have clubbed together to

share the risk. Do it is a simple idea. Before you get too decrepit,

you can't apply to live out your days at this community, run by the

Joseph Rowntree Foundation, where residents know that if or when they

need nursing care, it is available on site at no extra charge. It's

not easy to get him though, you have to pass a medical, and one of

the Leasehold bungalows needs to be vacant. It pays to apply early. I'm

53 and you made the decision to come here at 61. It was quite easy

for us. We came here because my parents had died and suddenly, we

were the oldest people in our family. We came here and suddenly,

we were the youngest. There were people 40 years older than me.

place offers peace of mind to those who can afford it. Residents pay

into a communal pot, something like �170 a month for a 16 year-old, but

more if you join later. In return, they can be confident whatever

happens to them, they will not get clobbered with care fees they

cannot afford. You are paying for care insurance. You are paying the

same sum year on year which covers your care, however much you need.

When you're fit, you are paying over the odds. When you need the

care, you don't pay a penny more. All those worries that have but he

has about what happens, you've answered them. We know where our

care will take place. To me, that is great. We can get on with living

It seems to me that this place is a local solution to what many people

argue should be a national state responsibility, paying for the care

of our elderly. But the plain fact is that at a time of cuts to public

services, the politician's right now cannot agree on whether we're

going to find the money. The issue just keeps getting kicked into the

long grass. The truth is that despite the recession, Britain is

still many times richer in real terms than it was when today's

pensioners were born. We can afford to look after them but in

Westminster, seasoned politicians would have that priorities lie

elsewhere. Is it just too ridiculous to imagine that the

answer to this is to put taxes up to me can pay to look after our old

be? It isn't ridiculous to suggest that we should use the tax system

progressively, to look after and care for people in old age. It's

ridiculous politically because nobody would touch with a bargepole.

A why not? Because people are scared of arguing about how and

spend. They are scared of the consequences at the moment, of the

economic impact in terms of further depression of our economy. So, with

taxpayers apparently unable or unwilling to pay for the increasing

care demands of the elderly, the search is on for ways to provide

health without the need for large amounts of public money. I've come

to Wickford in Essex to see one of the country's hundred or so home

shares in action, an idea all very popular on the Continent.

husband died in 2002. I've had run a tab of writers for 20 years.

Gradually, I found I was getting worse. -- I've had run a tab of

writers for 20 years. The I By the 80 year-old I am a was

matched at 45 year-old Graham, an NHS worker. It will come to me.

Liberace. For the last two years, they have

lived alongside each other. The deal is that he lives rent-free in

return for spending around 10 hours a week helping out. You see the

advert and it says this is not going to be a flat share with

another NHS worker. This is going to be living with an older person.

Taking care of the chickens, doing shopping, mowing the lawn, a few

repairs and bits and bobs, a bit of company. It allowed you to stay in

your own home. Well, exactly. I desperately wanted to stay here. I

love my house. I intend to be carried out in my coffin. You don't

have free board and lodging in return for chores kind of

relationship. He'd become friends. It is so nice when you see

something that clearly works as well as that does. It's not for

everybody. Clearly, the older people need to have a spare room

and they cannot be too severely ill, and also the characters have to be

right to get that kind of special relationship. So, it is an answer

but it is not the answer. We need an imaginative, holistic and so

that immobilisers and supports families with Charon, gets the

community involved, gets younger and older people as part of the

solution. And over on the Isle of Wight, there is a unique social

experiment being piloted their aims to do just that. It is called care

for care, and the idea is simple, for every hour of voluntary care

that people put in for their elderly neighbours, they build up

an hour's worth of care credit that they can keep in a time Bank and

used for their own care later in life. One of the youngest of the

150 or so members have signed up for the scheme is 36 year-old Lewis,

who's been helping out 87 year-old Pole. I've been coming to see poll

for six months. -- Pearl. But I have many as bank and I hope I can

use it when I need it. It can encourage you so much to actually

get out there and do something. thing is, my fingers, the top joint

doesn't go over so therefore, I cannot pick up things properly. I

spend quite a lot of time talking to him and he talks to me but that

is a big help to me because of people don't come. This company is

the brainchild of this professor, who hopes it will pay it -- play a

key part in solving the care crisis. I hope over the next three years or

so, we will build it into quite a large national scheme. I hope there

might be 1 million members. The problem is, the next generation is

sufficiently keen to ensure safety in their own age to infest the

hours which will buy from their care pension. In Westminster, the

talk is all about cuts and its turreted, not spending billions

more caring for our elderly. So the responsibility falls on wider

society, on communities and neighbourhoods, on families, to

fill that gap and help all of us feel more confident about the

The while politicians wrestle with the future of social care, families

across the West Midlands are more concerned with the here and now.

Ford has the -- for Debbie Osborne, that has meant giving up her job to

care for her father who has to mention. It's been a really

difficult journey. -- who has dementia.

It is 8am and Roger Mumford is being dressed by his daughter,

Debbie. Shall we clean our teeth? We've met before, in Worcestershire.

Roger was diagnosed with dementia three years ago. His condition is

deteriorating rapidly. He is quite agitated this morning. He's got up

and he is quite cross. A sometimes you can wash him from top to bottom

and other days you cannot. The days are hard and long. With forgers

care becoming more demanding, Debbie decided to give up work to

help her mother, Carol, look after him. It is difficult to have to do

this every day. Up at 6:30am every day and the day starts. 47 years

we've been married. We've been together 50 years. It hasn't been

too bad, has it? A low, not too bad. Despite the 40 years of marriage,

Carol is a stranger to Roger. is my name? Your name? I don't know

what that is. You don't? It makes A wodges dementia has become so bad

that he no longer recognises any of his family. -- Roger. Debbie still

has fond memories of the father she once knew. He was great fun and a

great dad when we were growing up. We were very close. He was very

athletic, very sociable. He was very busy building the house. He

was a very active man. Well, there you go then. That was you. It is

mid-morning and Roger is pacing. He's making it hard for Debbie and

Carol to do the simplest of tasks. By lunchtime, the house can turn

into a battleground. Shall we have dinner now? You haven't had any yet.

Try one mouthful. Come over here. See whether you like it. I will

give you a bit. The that's up to you. Some days, he will not have

his lunch and he takes a lot of persuasion. Sometimes, it can get

thrown at us, depending on how he is feeling. Sometimes he says it is

disgusting and sometimes he says he will only eat some of it. If you

don't like it, you don't have to have it. Wigan have some? -- are

you going to have some? If we were to sit down with him, he would go

mad. We are not allowed to me to dinner with him. When we sit down

at night, he can take our food away from us. Even if we ignore him, he

will really -- he will talk closely in our faces and say he hates this.

Eating is a real issue. Today was a good day. Roger has done well. An

empty plate is a welcome change. That's it, all gone. You've eaten

all of it. Very good. I'll take that out and we can have cake after.

It is a long afternoon looking after Roger and he needs constant

supervision. It's incredible how they can keep going hour after hour,

and not stopping at all. A see you later. My mum and I both hold our

hands up and we say BK is getting beyond what we are trained to do.

I'm not a trained nurse. We do our best. Dad would be happy cared-for

but anybody, as long as his needs are met. That one. A push. There

you go. Debbie has always said he would never send her dad to a care

home but now, every day is more of a struggle. For all the well in the

world, that's not my dad. He looks like my dad but the manner that was

my dad isn't there.'s -- a demand that was my dad isn't there.

Everyone is exhausted before bed. At I cannot cope and I don't want a

baby to spend all her life doing it. She has got her daughter and her

life to lead. After three years of taking care of Roger, the family

have made a decision and they are looking for a home to look after

him full-time. By Christmas, we hopefully will have looked at

several homes and found somewhere that think suits dad and us, and

that we can see him have thing as his home for the rest of his life.

It's his last home. We will be happy with it as well. A we've made

a decision together that's right. Nothing will ever bring dad back.

We miss him every day. We would love to sit down and have a

conversation with them, just to see him for 10 minutes, but it's not

going to happen. Goodnight. Thank you.

There is more information about caring for the elderly on our

website. Finance it for tonight but if you've got a story you would

like to tell us about, drop me an On Inside Out next week: other

victims paying thousands for the UK these is that never arrived.

cannot explain how devastating this was. I wanted to crawl under my