AN under fire home care service for the elderly have improved but problems still persist, it has been claimed.

Contracted by Waltham Forest social services, Leonard Cheshire Disability (LCD) and Housing 21 were criticised by relatives of the vulnerable for missed or late appointments.

A council investigation has been launched into whether a 93-year-old man receiving home care missed vital medication days before he died.

Now some service users have reported an improvement in the management of the week-day visits, but say performance at weekends is still inconsistent.

Kevin Ball, 45, of Waltham Abbey, said carers missed appointments to see his 80-year-old father at his home in Kings Head Hill, Chingford.

He said: “Things have got a lot better, pretty much because of my complaints. I have had managers phoning me and a senior staff from social services.

"My dad also had a couple of falls and they sent carers around outside of the usual times.

“They have responded well, we have the previous carer back and things have improved vastly. I just hope they stay that way.”

Matthew Burgess, who claims his mother Miriam, of Winslow Grove, Chingford, was not prompted to take medicine on two occasions, says weekday care has improved but problems persist at weekends.

He said: “In the six weeks LCD have been the new care provider we have only had two weekends where the care has been correct.

"Problems include not giving medication, which happened again two weeks ago. We saw this and were able to give the medication ourselves.

“Basically we cannot rely on LCD to get it right and have to continually be there to check on them. As you can imagine this causes real stress - having to be there, then complain to the LCD office and then have it happen again.

“We are seriously thinking of moving to another care provider. This is not something we would like to do as we believe that this service should be something that social services provides and monitors for quality and competency.”

Colin Young, director of UK operations for LCD recently shadowed carers on visits to get a measure of the situation.

He admits that weekend services are not up to a good service but staff are still being recruited so that LCD has the full resources to meet the requirements of the contract.

He said: “During the day and the week it is okay, but evenings and weekends are more difficult. Sunday mornings are a problem because we have a shortage of staff for that time.

“We have ironed out a lot of issues. There are still some to iron out but I am just about ready to say things are under control and to explain to the council and the users what the problems were.”

Mr Young said LCD has agreed with the council to carry out a review of the service in its first few weeks of the contract, and the agency will meet with council representatives in a few weeks to discuss this.

An investigation is due conclude soon into the care 93-year-old Reginald Dean, of Kings Head Hill, Chingford, received from LCD in the days before he died.

Cllr Liz Phillips, cabinet member for health, adult and older People, said: “It is good news that people have noticed an improvement in the standard of homecare they are receiving.

“Leonard Cheshire Disability put in place a new management team on Friday May 8 to improve the service, and the council imposed daily monitoring of the service. These arrangements have led to significant improvements in the last few weeks.

"We are aware that the homecare service was previously not up to the high standards that we expect, but since weekly monitoring was introduced, progress has been made by Leonard Cheshire Disability. The Council is determined that the standard of service will continue to improve.

“The required service standards are now being met in the majority of cases, and we are confident that the homecare service will meet our required standard by the end of this month."