Agincare Avis 

Friendly staff made moving mum stress free

Very happy with the helpful and kind manner of the manager! All the staff seemed lovely and residents looked happy! Think we have made the right choice with Boswell care home

From when we visited the home the whole experience has been excellent. The staff at the home were informative and helpful and understood what a big decision it is placing an elderly relative into care. Once we decided to proceed the assessment was carried out quickly and Ben in the office was very helpful . A first class service from everyone we dealt with.

I was debating whether or not its 1 star.
What happened. Paid by Adult Social Services.
People nice enough - no complaints there - maybe warranting the extra star?
Patient/Caree left with staff that refuse to clean the private parts. Basic caring stuff - those are the most significant areas to clean if the caree can't.
Also staff, while nice and pleasant enough, finish duties in less than 10 mins and then sit in car for the next 20 mins. Should that 20 mins be for the caree? I suspect so.
Caring is not well paid in the UK, but there's something not right - care and personal pride that the jobs been done correctly.
Need to step up Agincare.

All very good.

Great helpful team
Great communication from Aaron,Kirsty and John

This caring agency is very untrustworthy/ unprofessional and poor at supplying correct carers!!!
My brother was reliant on daily carers for a while then we decided he would benefit from a live in carer. BIG MISTAKE!!!! Initially, the family are sent a profile of possible people, outlining their skills, country of origin/ qualifications etc……. Do they match up? BIG FAT NO!!! They did not cook! Keep the house clean! Spend time with my brother!!!! Plan outings! Plan meals!!!(except for one) It was a total shambles!!! The last poor excuse for a carer, was unable to spot a stroke when it happened to my brother and left him in the armchair until my mother arrived 4 hours later!!! Subsequently, he was rushed into hospital on a blue light and has lost all use of his left side and now needs to be in a care home!!! I intend to take this to the highest level with evidence of other incidents!!! Shame on you Agincare and your ability to recruite properly trained people!!! Very sad times for my mother!!!

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.