Mary Jones, who has been a carer in Islington for 15 years, working at several different agencies

A CRISIS in Islington’s care industry has been laid bare following an investigation by the Tribune.

Clients of care agencies, relatives of those receiving care, and carers this week warned that private companies are cashing in on a ­system that is “not fit for purpose”. They called for reform including better training of carers and closer monitoring of the service by the council.

It comes on the back of the death of Paul Lewis who a coroner ruled was unlawfully killed when a blaze engulfed him in his bed in Hanley Gardens, Stroud Green, in August 2021.

In our investigation we heard about the constant problem of carers “clipping” or cutting short their time with clients, meaning in many cases vulnerable people don’t eat or get washed or dressed. In other cases clients died due to neglect.

One carer warned “it’s really scary” and said clients told her they were afraid of other carers.

Meanwhile, clients suggested they would rather stay with the agency found responsible for Mr Lewis’s death than take their chances with other agencies because the quality of care available was so poor.

I complain but nothing changes… care just gets worse

MARY Jones* has been a carer for 15 years, and worked across five care agencies operating in Islington.

A prolific whistleblower, she has made almost 100 separate reports about the industry in hope of sparking change.

The agency she is currently with is the first to report her concerns about other carers – and what she perceives to be an unregulated industry – to the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

The Holloway-based carer told the Tribune this week: “Nothing ever changes. It gets worse. You complain, you go CQC, you go everywhere and you know you’re banging your head against the wall.

“I go from company to company because I don’t like the way half of them work. They don’t listen to your complaints and I can’t handle working for a company that sweeps the reports under the carpet and nothing ever, ever gets done.”

She told how one agency simply changed its name after its carers were caught abusing clients in a BBC documentary.

Care workers that are disciplined or sacked are known to move on to other firms without any consequence, she said.

Mary painted a harrowing picture of the care service in Islington, listing a series of times care company workers had failed clients.

In one case, carers left a woman who was in a shower without her support chair, while they went and had a cup of tea.

She later fell and died, and the agency did not investigate or suspend the workers.

In another case, a man died from sepsis caused by severe bedsores after his dressings were repeatedly left unchanged.

Mary said she once discovered an elderly client lying naked, half falling out of bed and crying for help. She reported knowing of multiple clients who were terrified of their care workers, who mentally or physically abused them.

Some are left in the same incontinence pads for days, even though a stack of them are in their cupboards, she said.

She says “clipping” – the practice of cutting the amount of time spent with a client – or missing appointments altogether, is endemic.

“It’s neglect, and it kills people,” she said.

On a zero-hours contract, she only gets paid for the time spent at clients’ homes, and ­doesn’t get travel time or money to cover her travel expenses.

She lives on Hula Hoops and had to buy her own uniform.

In terms of improvements, she called for all carers should be trained to an NVQ level 2 or above, and said carers should be registered to practise like doctors and nurses – meaning they can be struck off for poor performance.

*Name has been changed