‘People rely on their carers to be kind’
Families call on councillor to make changes to the care system in Islington
Friday, 2nd February 2024 — By Charlotte Chambers
Cllr Nurullah Turan
THE families of people who have died as a result of poor care have called on the leading councillor to make changes to the system in Islington.
Emma Hall and Debbie Fossey – who both lost loved ones just weeks apart roughly two years ago – have called for all carers employed by Islington to be trained to a level 2 NVQ standard. While those in its in-house care team are required to have qualifications, those working for agencies do not.
The pair are demanding greater checks on care agencies to ensure when money is paid out for care, that it is being carried out properly to the right length of time and with the right tasks being completed.
Rose Hollingworth (right), who died following ‘significant failings’ in her care, pictured with her sister Kath
Debbie Fossey, whose aunt Rose Hollingworth died following “significant failings” in her care, according to a coroner, said: “What I would like to see is a uniform standard guaranteed by the local authority.”
Cllr Nurullah Turan, Islington’s lead councillor for health and social care, said it relied on the Care Quality Commission to accurately assess agencies but that currently it’s not a CQC requirement for carers to have an NVQ level of training – even if he thought they should “ideally”.
Rose on her wedding day with brother Christy Green, who gave her away
Urging people to get in touch with their concerns about agencies or care workers, he said: “Personally, I would really welcome any sort of feedback from people. I would, because I would immediately ask our teams to look into it. There would be an investigation into each case.”
Describing caring work as “really important”, he said: “I would be really disappointed and upset, as anyone should be, to hear of bad examples. Because people rely on their carers to be kind, compassionate and caring. To make sure that people can live a dignified life is extremely important.
“So it would get to me, it would be very upsetting. The way I look at it is that it could be my family member, or your family member or anybody who ends up in this situation.”
