On one memorable occasion, I found cat fur at the back of a shelf in my fridge, after it had been “cleaned”. Now, my cat PurrJo is enthusiastic about the contents of my fridge, but not to the extent of climbing into it! When I questioned the alleged “cleaner” the following week, she said, very offhandedly, “oh, I must have put the cloth on the floor, before I cleaned the fridge. I pointed out that adding dirt wasn’t cleaning, and that as the fridge is a “hygiene area” the cloth shouldn’t have been placed on the floor in the first place. She just looked at me, open-mouthed, and shrugged.

But my current action against the provider is not about the homecare workers. It is about the administrative bungling that has become farcical. Having a regular woman come on a Thursday morning, I suddenly found things had changed. One Tuesday morning I emerged from the shower at 9.45, to an answerphone message, telling me that someone I’d never heard of was coming to clean my house at 10am, that day. Readers with CP will know that getting dressed takes time, and in my case more than 15 minutes! Having a stranger coming to my home, I at least wanted to be presentable. An undressed Alli hasn’t been a pretty sight for quite some time! When I complained to the agency about the lack of notice, I was told that I had to “fit in”: with them.

I know that they have staff problems, but I have pointed out to them on a number of occasions that people with disabilities do have lives and are not necessarily sitting around at home waiting for their house to be cleaned.

Some weeks no-one would turn up at all. Having not had any help for a fortnight on one occasion, I rang to enquire what was happening. I was told “Yes, dear, you had Wanda last week”. “No, nobody came last week…she must have wandered off somewhere else”. (Wanda later told them I hadn’t been home. She had clearly gone to the wrong address). Which begged the question, had Wanda signed my name on the timesheet, if the agency thought the work had been carried out?

The final straw came last week. I had been told the “carer” would be here at 10am. When she hadn’t shown up by 11.45am, I rang and just got voicemail. I left a fairly vocal message (in my dulcet CP tones) and about 45 minutes later received a call from a “co-ordinator” (I’ve seen people with ataxic CP who can coordinate better than this lot!) saying there had been a “mix-up” with the times. Indeed there had. When she arrived at 1.30pm, the “carer” showed me her work list (which she goes by) and the time sheet for my place, which showed different times. (10am on the sheet I sign, 1.30pm on her work sheet). I knew that it wasn’t her fault, but could imagine some clients may get quite stroppy with the frontline workers when their routines are thrown out.

I found out who the head honcho at the agency was, and wrote a detailed complaint to him. I also wrote to a Quality Manager in the Audit Unit of the Ministry of Health, stating that I believed this agency was breaching its contract with the Ministry, by not providing effective services. Apart from being continually inconvenienced myself, I wondered if people who needed personal care to get up in the morning were also being let down by this incompetence. If my house doesn’t get vacuumed for a week it’s no big deal but if people are being left in, or out of, bed and not having timely personal care and meal preparation, that is a big deal. Such clients may be less comfortable about complaining, fearing that they may lose their services altogether, We all have a right to complain, and agencies are not permitted to withhold services, except where clients are abusive or threatening to workers.

For now, I have solved my own home carer problem, by insisting on having someone whom I knew, who was keen to work for me. She does a good job, and is reliable. I’ve told her I hope she’ll be around for a few years!

Having a disability is inconvenient enough, without having to have constant battles to receive basic services. Has anyone reading this had similar hassles? If so, feel free to tell me about them. Email: allicat@ihug.co.nz .

Allison Franklin
Christchurch