Alina Homecare Avis 

Appalling care agency. Only care about money! Upset my mother with advanced dementia about my recently deceased father. Carers change constantly as they are mistreated by the agents and receive only a small percentage 40% of what the agency charge. Rude admin staff!!!!
Keep clear

Messed me about with hours.
Not much praise.
Managers are two-faced.
Always changing times of visits, making customers annoyed.
Would not admit their mistakes.
Not recommended at all.
Customers are nice though.
Would be much nicer with better Management.

I have been working for Alina Homecare for about 18 months as the CQC Registered Manager of the Hereford Branch. Tasked with opening a new branch and building a new team, looking after our staff welfare and having an excellent team spirit and great culture within the team was very important to me. Alina Homecare overall from the CEO down through the regional teams helped me achieve this, we are all one team in a very supportive, open, learning based environment. The quality of the care provided by us here at Alina is of and excellent standard and this is down to the pride and passion my staff have in their roles here working for Alina. We strive to do everything we can to enhance our Service Users day and work closely with their support networks to achieve the best possible outcomes within their care package. I would recommend Alina Homecare as a great place to work, expand your knowledge and develop your career.

I started working for Alina Homecare, Maldon branch in February 2022, after working at several other companies in Essex over the past 14 years, this is the first company I have worked for that I genuinely feel happy, the clients are well looked after and I feel I have a decent amount of time in each call to get the job done right..our manager Jacqueline goes above and beyond to make sure we are all happy with what we are doing and we all make sure we help each other out and any problems I feel confident to speak with my manger. Lots of training opportunities too!

Having worked for a couple of other care organisations (and many, many other employers in different industries) I can honestly say that Alina are absolutely the best company I have experienced working for. I joined as a care worker in 2016 and have been provided training and opportunities to progress through various job roles over that period, and I am now a CQC Registered Branch Manager.
I am extremely proud to work for Alina Homecare, because I feel we focus on quality care, as evidenced by our Homecare.co.uk reviews, and on teaching and developing our staff and giving them opportunities to grow and progress. Although we are not perfect, I feel we try to be, and always try do the right thing to look after our clients and our staff.

I've been working for Alina Homecare Maldon for a year and a half now and I can honestly say I absolutely love my job. Our Manager, Jacqueline, goes above and beyond to support her staff and service users in every way possible. The training is exceptional and if you have any concerns with regards to the care you need to provide, Jacqueline is there to guide and advise you every step of the way, not just on the telephone but in person, which is really important to me being new to the profession when I first started. The pay is competitive, the hours are flexible and it suits my needs and that of my family. I have absolutely no regrets in changing my career from teaching to caring, it is so rewarding and fulfilling.

I joined Alina Homecare in 2020, I remember saying in my interview, "I would like to have a go, but I am not sure if I can handle the personal care" well I can honestly say, I really enjoy what I am doing, after 8 months I progressed to a fcs, again with fully support from everyone, well I can honestly say I have learnt so much and achieved so much with a company that fully understand, supports and helps you to achieve.
I am now registered care Manager, in the Leatherhead Branch, with a great team of carers and amazing clients. seeing smiles on people's faces for helping them. gives me so much satisfaction, I have achieved my NVQ3 and currently doing my NVQ5. I have my First Aid and so much more. Happiness. so, if you feel you want to achieve, progress then looks us up.

Interview was good, got the job over the phone, told manager I had annual leave booked at previous company so asked if it would be ok to carry this over with me, this was agreed. Took my annual leave which was only 2 weeks into me starting the job to come back to been blocked on my laptop, manager went behind my back and to area manager saying I was refusing to pick up calls during my ANNAUL LEAVE!
She made up a load of lies about me, didn’t give me a chance really!
No communication whatsoever from her, just very sly and unprofessional!!
Calls are long and your not really caring your just sitting with people for hours on end or been a glorified cleaner!
Would never recommend working under manager at Brentwood branch!!

Care person is excellent, however Management are the worse i've come accross.
They are very expensive and give no client feedback.
Please use another company is my recomendation.

Bloody awful company lied through whole time I was there. Wouldn't suggest this company to anyone. No wonder they can't keep the staff.
WARNING DONT APPLY

Be prepared to give 2 weeks notice of dying. My husband signed the contract which states that two weeks notice of termination must be given. That is fine if he had wished to change to another company and we were actually looking at alternative care a few days prior to his death. Nowhere does it mention having to pay after death. Perhaps my husband should have arranged his death after giving the required notice. A second company we were using at the same time as Alena mailed their sympathy and only required 24 hours notice. Alena addressed their invoice to my deceased husband and I am now expected to pay £1032 for non existent care. I am told the carers have to be paid but I understand some of them are not on guaranteed hours so “Mr or Mrs Alena” are doing very nicely from their dead clients. As carers are in short supply my husband’s times would quickly be filled so the company would be receiving double payments.
Steer clear.

If i am being honest giving them even 1 star feels like to much i would rather give them a - star. I'm writing this not as a client but as the close relative of someone who was employed by the guildford branch. The way they treat their employees is shocking as they compleatly disregard the physical health of individuals working for them including ignoring doctors notes and physical limitations and when my relative called in sick with Covid symptoms they told her to get on with it and that no one would take the call. When she was in hospital to have surgery they kept sending her emails to book her in for extra trainning and asking her when she would be back, this stress and pressure impacted her mental health and has left her in tears on multiple occasions at the treatment they have received and with a company that runs it's employees into the ground their level of care is impacted and i would never recomend this company to anyone because individuals who require care deserve better.

Whilst the carers were always good and caring, time keeping and communication was extremely poor. Based on the service my Mother received I would state the service was adequate

Under previous management I would have previously given a glowing review for alina, although there was some issues especially with covid and everything going on. Just starting in hitchin and lack of staff etc they always went out their way to make sure that they provided care that was needed, that care needs and care plans where met. that you where treated as person, with dignity and respect. You where never made to feel horrible or Judged about needing help. Never Judged or looked down on etc if there was a issue it was always dealt with quickly with kindness and respect not punished or treated badly for speaking out when you did the situation was resolved. Never made to feel bad about speaking out about issues . You where never left let down and they understood that disability effects different people in different ways , comes in many different shapes and forms. You weren't just money or a job, you were a person . Or should say Emily made it that way...

Under new management it all completely changed and I can't recommend alina at all . It was the exact opposite of how it was previously was. Things changed and where done differently, but you were then expected to just know that changes had been made without informing you. You weren't treated like a person, dignity and respect didn't come into it . Care plans and needs were ignored, changed and backed out off. There was no care, let alone quality of it. you weren't treated as a person, just a inconvenience and made you feel looked down on and judged. Carers started not turning up and late with No warning, not even any contact at all .where as previously you would get warnings if staff would be running late or couldn't make it so you would be warned that never happened. There was no communication at all not between alina and those they cared for or alina and the carers. Previously wouldn't be left let down either as they would make sure that someone else was there in the carers place but Instead You where left never knowing if they would turn up and there was no care to the fact you where dependant on that help and the effect being let down would have when they did. The changes to how things where done made things worse, you wouldn't be told of any changes at all, chastised for doing things you hadn't been told had changed .Staff would not be made aware of changes at all or would get told wrong things and it turned into complere mess, it's no wonder staff weren't happy really. I went from having the same / regular carers as in my care plan, set and agreed to by alina to a ever revolving and changing carers despite no warning or care to inform me and then chastised when I questioned the change in care plan and brought up issues that it and other things where causing, including causing me harm to my health. They didn't tell me they no longer wanted to do my care plan either, they never contact me to tell me or discuss any issues they had to see if it could be sortedDidnt even bother to tell me anything or try continue care, didnt tell me that they where struggling with it or anything instead they decided to just drop my care again without informing me but worst of all by lying and making false allegations about me. I received a phone call from adult social care where I was shouted at and made to feel like complete dirt on the bottom of there shoes for things that had never been done, had never even happened or blamed for things alina had done wrong. They had lied about things to make me look bad or that I had done wrong when I hadn't at all. All that was happening was that alina was backing out of the care plan that they had not only agreed to but had actually made themselves. I got stuck between adult social care and alina both calling each other liars, alina couldnt even get its story straight and constantly denied and changed their story but was always more lies. It went from the lies and false allegations to saying that adult social care where the ones that wanted it stopped but that was a lie too as adult social care had no issue with my care at all . It was just alina. Some carers where great but many were not, not just training wise which definitely is a issue but where clearly uncomfortable in the job and unhappy doing it. they didn't want to do it or be carers only staying until they could leave alina without it being at a cost to them and this effected the care. On top of lack of that i had things damaged and constantly going missing which they didn't care about at all either. Didn't investigate or want too. My options where stop care or place cameras in my home but It got to point that having the carers became more harmful than not having them which says alot as desperately needed that help but in the end I felt completely bullied and forced into leaving alina and not continuing care with then no matter how much it was needed and fact I'm now left without.

Having tried several agencies unsuccessfully for weekend cover for a relative I was pleased when Sean at Alina homecare could help. He said they definitely covered my Aunts location where other agencies hadn't so an appointment was made to meet.
On the day, I drove the 45minutes to my Aunts. But no one from Alina arrived, after 10 minutes I called and was told Sean was only covering someone on leave and they didn't cover that area and sorry I should have been telephoned. She then just laughed. Sean had blatantly lied to me and I wasted over 90 minutes of my day for a pointless trip. Having now read the reviews on trustpilot, I see I dodged a bullet here. I don't recommend Alina.

Poor Level of Care - the Worst we Experienced in 4 years.

Some staff are adequate but others are not clear about the role they’re performing.

We experienced carers who continuously refused to lift a fragile lady - they think this should not be part of their remit despite having all the equipment they requested to be at their disposal and despite the lady being very light.

Despite getting hoists and chairs for washing in the shower some staff preferred to talk lots and do nothing.

We had a 24 hour carer living in the home with my mother in law 7 days per week who was employed through a different - and much more professional - company. So, the 2 additional carers from Alina were brought in twice per day to help the main carer and should have supported her but some didn’t!

Alina don’t provide continuity with staffing cover. They send carers back whom you’ve complained about despite complaining about them. They also charge you despite receiving complaints. They won’t acknowledge that sometimes their staff are absolutely useless.

Alina never alter the behavioural pattern of their staff or offer any recompense if you complain so they encourage an attitude which isn’t conducive to good practice in elderly care.

Some carers do nothing except stand around while the 24 hour carer continues to work and they leave lots of mess instead of cleaning dirty toilet paper away and flooding in the shower room. Despite my 94 year old father in law slipping in the wet they left behind and subsequently complaining they ignored the complaint and many months later said the staff member left....

This isn’t a personal service from Alina. We wish we could have stayed with the best elderly care agency in Surrey who are ‘Home Indeed’ but they are very popular and they couldn’t accommodate our required time slots so we had to leave them as my mother in law’s needs changed.

I suggest whomever reads this review looks elsewhere. I can absolutely recommend ‘Home Indeed’. Their staff are kind and well-trained and they do the job properly.

The carers I've come across couldn't care less about the people they look after and especially not their neighbours. They make as much noise as possible including at 7.30am on Saturday and Sunday mornings! Having lived next door to someone having their care for 2-3 years I'm fed up with the noise - stomping up and down the stairs, slamming doors, shouting out at the people needing care.
The office in Stevenage doesn't care and having spoken to a carer nor do they!
They don't contact each other either if the person is in hospital and keep coming anyway, no doubt still charging you!
Half the time I'm not sure why they bother turning up at all the amount of time they're not in the house!
If I ever needed a carer for someone this company would not be on my list!

This is an awful company to use for a carer, please go elsewhere, the company does NOT give a damn about the neighbours of the person they are "caring" for, that's if you can call it caring. They are rude and if asked to deal with a situation they don't, some staff have been very rude with one even swearing at a member of the public. AVOID AVOID AVOID

Hello!
After a recent experience, I had the opportunity to make a difference.
Also, I want to thank you, Mary, Natasha, Monika for the way you know how to work and make us all a team!
At the beginning training, the trainer told us, that here, there are no bosses, but they all form a team.
And she was right!
From my years of experience, I know that it is relatively easy to be a manager, but it is very difficult to be a leader.
So:
1. I thank you for working nice, you do not scream and listen and what we say!
2. I thank you for helping us, without appearing to be difficult or degrading.
3. I thank you for appreciating our work. And there would be plenty more to say. But what I love most is that I can work, not only with managers, but with leaders.
Due to education, I respect all people, but I especially appreciate those who know how to be leaders!
I was also very pleased to be part of teams that work together, particularly efficiently, in Horsham and Woking. I also appreciated the help of the leaders of those teams.
I, really, would like to be everywhere who can be, leaders! No, just manager!
That leaders who can help, respect and appreciate the work, as you do!

Respectfully,
Daniela Mihai

Left our Son who has Downs and needs 24 hour care support on his own. Allow him to eat a poor quality diet. Comes to us fortnightly dirty - we have to physically scrub him. Has no clean bed linen and suffers skin problems as a result. Incorrect medication provided when he stays with us. Clothes worn and dirty. No social or very few physical activities undertaken. Care is not a word to be used with this company.