UNISON’s Dave Watson has been promoting our Ethical Care Charter at the Lib Dem Party Conference in Perth. He has just spoken at the fringe meeting and discussed with Willie Rennie and other MSPs.
West Dunbartonshire and North Lanarkshire are the most recent councils to adopt UNISON’s Ethical Care Charter. They follow Aberdeen City and North Ayrshire councils, Inverclyde Council and Health & Social Care Partnership and Renfrewshire who have all signed up to the charter.
The Ethical Care Charter was developed by UNISON following concerns raised about the standards of homecare vulnerable people were getting.
Research highlighted fears that poor terms and conditions for staff were leading to lower standards of care for mostly elderly and vulnerable people who use homecare services.
The charter provides a set of standards that we want councils to stick to when they commission homecare services. It calls for service users to be given the time to talk with their homecare workers and receive the same worker wherever possible.
It calls for homecare workers to be treated with dignity and allowed to do their jobs better, to be paid at least a living wage – including travel time – and to receive regular quality training.
