Agincare Opiniones 

Friendly, informed, kind staff who were helpful and supportive.

My mum has been at Bluegrove House in Southwark for almost 5 months now and the care home does not have a reliable lift. The care home has 46 rooms, and my mum is on the 2nd floor. In February/ March, the lift, which is the only one in the building, was inoperable for 7 weeks trapping residents on the 1st and 2nd floors for all this time. It was eventually repaired, but since then the lift has frequently broken down. Now it is breaking down every other day. My mum likes to go out, and on Saturday I went to visit her to take her to lunch in her wheelchair, but the lift wasn’t working, so we couldn’t go. My mum’s mental health hasn’t been good since she arrived at Bluegrove, and going out in her wheelchair is one of the few things she looks forward to. Not being able to do this, and her fear of getting stuck in the lift, is having a hugely detrimental impact on her mental health.
A couple of weeks ago I did manage to take my mum out, but just after we got back to her room, the lift broke down again. I asked the staff at the care home what would have happened if the lift had broken down while we were still downstairs, because the maintenance people often take days before they come out and repair it, and they just shrugged their shoulders in response. Staff have told me that residents have missed hospital appointments because they cannot get down from the first and second floors. They told me that a visitor with mobility issues could not see her mother for 7 weeks in February/March because the lift wasn’t working. One of the ‘selling points’ of the home is the garden, but only residents in rooms on the ground floor can confidently use it knowing that they will be able to get back to their rooms afterwards. Likewise, staff occasionally take some of the residents to the local park, but again, there is no guarantee that they will get back to their rooms afterwards if they are on the first and second floor. Also, many of the activities take place in the games room on the ground floor, so many miss out on these, although the activities coordinator sometimes repeats activities on each floor. It’s a serious health and safety issue for the staff working there also. They work 12-hour shifts, having to frequently carry hot food and drinks up and down flights of stairs.
The building is a purpose-built care home owned by Southwark Council and run by Agincare. Southwark are responsible for the lift repairs and in March my husband wrote to Kieron Williams, the leader of Southwark Council with our concerns, and on 26 March they told us they would be looking into the issue, but we haven’t heard anything further (it’s now 4 May.) We also wrote to Neil Coyle, the local MP, who responded on 8 April informing us that he will contact Southwark Council about the issue. In March we also contacted the South London Press, who were interested in running the story, but when they contacted us for an update on 24 March, the lift had been repaired (after it had been inoperable for 7 weeks) and we thought that was the end of the issue, so they didn’t run the story. We will be getting back in touch with all these parties next week, because we do not feel that Southwark or Agincare are treating this situation with the urgency that it deserves, and a care home built on 3 storeys without a functioning lift is not fit for purpose.

Communication was a big issue. My Nan was transferred from a council assessment unit and we were unable to attend her admission.

Consequently, there was no discussion or explanation of admission forms which remained uncompleted for several days which could have impacted her care.

There was also confusion between Head Office and the Care Home concerning her assessment and the fees to be charged as well as the actual financial arrangements between ourselves, the council and Agincare which has still not been fully resolved.

Agincare have recently taken over from my previous care company and it has run so smoothly. The managers are friendly. All the carers are very special, they go above and beyond for everyone and nothing is ever too much trouble. They are all wonderful girls.

I Pardeep 54,from india self employed Acupressure Therapist, having 12 Years of experience

I wanted to arrange for my mum to have respite and the lady who dealt with it couldn’t have been more helpful , she responded quickly to my emails
I was very happy with the service I received

Agincare were very easy to work with setting up overnight care for my mother for when she was to be discharged from hospital. They were very helpful and flexible with times and dates, as the discharge process never goes to plan. Once my mother was home, things immediately went south, as she would not under any circumstances accept this help. The folks from Agincare were professional and flexible, suggesting sensible alternative, but when there was no route forward, they accepted that we had to cancel, and a refund made. It was rather embarrassing, but seeing how they managed when things go wrong made me respect them even more.

The staff were very friendly and very helpful.

The care my brother received from agincare was wonderful and I should like to thank everyone he was treated with kindness and respect and liked everyone who cared for him I would like from the bottom of my heart to say a very big thank you to each and everyone

Good service and Alison is very helpful
With what I require .

We met with Cher from Agincare to explore the possibility of using the ‘live in’ service to look after my husband whilst I am away on respite. Cher was thorough, re-assuring and personable. we felt happy that the service would suit us. We have not experienced the actual care yet, so cannot comment at this stage.

Excellent, I needed support for my father in law at short notice - they helped and were amazing.

Excellent communication answered all my questions.

We approached Agincare to help with temporary respite care at their care home in Littlehampton when my mother came out of Hospital.

The Portland admin team have been extremely helpful and understanding up to and now during my mother’s stay.

The care home staff are very friendly and helpful, and doing a great job helping my mother recuperate.

We are now looking at additional care and, again, the Portland Team are being very helpful and supportive

Lovely home for my mother in law, staff are genuine and smile to ensure a lovely happy home for all residents

Excellent carers looking after my mum who now needs 24hr care very kind considerate and accommodating

Agincare main office were quick, efficient, and extremely helpful in what was a stressful period. I would recommend them anytime

My 96 year old mother with dementia was appointed Agincare carers four times a day by Medway council. My mum was already paying for morning carers with another company but was struggling during the day and in the evening. After just a few weeks of the family monitoring Agincare’s appalling service (that has put my already vulnerable mother in danger), we have removed them from caring for my mother because the management team have not acted to address or rectify the abysmal level of service experienced by my mother. I cannot express just how appalling their service is!

From day one they have failed to turn up on time, often hours late. (Primarily, because the carers rely on public transport). This is not good for someone that is waiting to eat at an appropriate time or who is waiting to go to bed! The fact that the carers all rely on public transport was pointed out to us on numerous times by the supervisor and coordinator who were unsympathetic to the fact that someone with dementia benefits from a rigid routine.

Most times the carers did not stay for the allocated time. Sometimes only 5 mins when they were being paid for 45 minute appointments!! (We have video evidence of the times of their comings and goings which do not correspond with the times on their logs). When questioned, the Carers visiting my mother had no care plan for her so had no idea of her needs or the requirements of each visit. One of the carers even asked my mums separately employed cleaner about what she should do whilst she was there!!! Mum’s personal hygiene needs were not attended to as they should have been and the carers made no attempts to wash or dress a wound on her leg despite this being a requirement in the initial meetings to arrange the care.

On once occasion two carers came. When we asked the supervisor about this, this should not have been the case. No idea if the person accompanying was an employee of Agincare or just a friend of the carers that should not have been there. Either way - not appropriate! One evening the carer turned up an hour late. They were advised in advance that if all the lights were out not to go in to the house because it would mean that my mother will have already gone to bed. Despite being asked to please not attend as they were too late, the carer still let herself in and was creeping around the house and even went to look in on my mum! Thank goodness she didn’t wake up as she would have had the fright of her life!! On another occasion, a carer went upstairs to my mother with her hoodie up. Pretty scary for a 96 year old. Another carer went upstairs to my mother, put the seat up on her stair lift and turned it off with the key and then left with it still being like that like that. My mother could not work out what was wrong with the stair lift and we have video footage of mum coming down the stairs on her bottom and crawling back up them on her hand and knees!!! No one seems to read any other carers notes so my mum was being fed a sandwich for lunch and another for her dinner despite clear instructions that she was to have a hot meal in the evening and us leaving a freezer full of Wiltshire farm foods which could be easily heated up for her. Some of the carers put her to bed at 6pm which meant that she was then up all night and very confused what time of day it was when she awoke and about the fact that no one was coming to see her.

Despite raising almost daily concerns with the supervisor and coordinator, Agincare failed to act citing that they “will investigate but we have another 90 patients to look after!”. Thus continually failing to provide my mother with any care of a reasonable quality despite serious concerns being raised to them.

Overall a totally unprofessional and uncaring service was provided by Agincare and I would not leave this company to care for my dog, let alone a vulnerable elderly person with dementia. I will be raising a complaint at the highest level not only for my own mother’s sake, but to try and stop this from happening to any other vulnerable adult that has the misfortune to be appointed this care company and who may not have a family looking out for them. PLEASE AVOID AT ALL COSTS!

Very helpful. They explained everything clearly on the phone and confirmed it all in writing.

Mum has just moved into Nightingale Care Home. On her arrival she was made to feel so welcome, the staff were so kind and reassuring, nothing was too much trouble.