Avelon Live-In Care  Anmeldelser 

My partner and I decided to engage Promedica24 to provide Live-in care for my Mum in October 2018 on the recommendation of a good friend who had been using their services for her Father for some time.

Mum had always told us that she wanted to continue to live in her home for as long as possible so our decision to move to Live-in care for Mum seemed the best option when, due to her memory-related dementia, she started to become increasingly anxious between her four daily pop-in care visits. She worried that she had been abandoned and that no one would come back to see her. I was working overseas at this time and, although I spoke to Mum several times each day and visited her every fortnight, the reassurance of knowing an experienced and empathetic care worker was with her day and night would prove to be a tremendous relief to us all.

Once the contract was set up, Promedica24 were soon able to identify the most appropriate and experienced carers for Mum’s needs and, for the almost four years they provided care for Mum, we were fortunate to have four marvellous care workers who returned multiple times for repeat contracts. The continuity of familiar faces provided invaluable reassurance for Mum and allowed us all to build excellent, collaborative relationships.

Throughout the time we worked with Promedica24 we found their management team to be extremely professional, approachable and responsive. They invest in the ongoing training of their Care Workers and work hard to find the most suitable Care Workers for their clients. If problems arise, as they did for us on a couple of occasions over the four years of working together, there is a clear escalation process that enables the situation to be resolved as quickly as possible.

Having Live-in care provided me with the additional benefit that I was able continue to see Mum every week throughout the whole COVID pandemic. Several friends of mine whose parents were in Care Homes could not visit them at all for well over a year and really noticed the huge detrimental impact this had on the emotional well being of their loved ones over this time. So that provided extra reinforcement, if we needed it, of our original decision to go down the Live-in care route.

But perhaps the biggest reinforcement of our decision to use Live-in care came at the end of Mum’s life this summer when, due to a sudden deterioration in her condition, she had to be moved into a local Care Home for a period emergency respite care. This was intended to be a short-term solution to allow for additional care and equipment to be arranged to allow her to return home. While the Care Home staff were very supportive it was extremely clear to us that the level of care able to be provided by a dedicated live-in carer for a client suffering from dementia is far superior to that provided by Care Home workers who are inevitably more stretched having to support and care for multiple residents. Sadly Mum’s condition continued to deteriorate rapidly and she passed away just three weeks later before she had chance to return home.

During this last difficult phase of Mum’s life, Promedica24, continued to provide much-needed support and flexibility for which we are extremely grateful.

I have no doubt that the quality of care provided by Promedica24 Live-in Care Workers enhanced Mum’s quality of life considerably over her last four years and, of course, it allowed her to continue to live in her own familiar and comforting surroundings for as long as practically possible. I would have no hesitation in recommending live-in care as an option or Promedica24 as an excellent provider of these services.

Louise, Bournemouth September 2022

If it were possible to give negative stars I would. Horrific, appalling experience. Provided an untrained, inexperienced and deceitful carer to look after our 92 year old mum. In short, the carer (?) gave incorrect meds which resulted in multiple falls that were not reported - she never recovered and consequently passed away. Wiltshire Council MASH investigated and involved CQC. Excuse after excuse from Promedica, an apology but no admittance of fault. We can only hope something comes of it and no other family has to suffer due to such negligence. Should have lost their licence.
UPDATE: If you check CQC website, Promedica24 are no longer registered with them. But they still maintain on their website that they are.
Footnote.
Regarding the response below. Promedica 24 UK Ltd are no longer regisrered with the CQC . They are using another branch Promedica 24 (Lancashire) Ltd, which are still registered. They have so may subsidiary branches is is a minefield. We are waiting response from Ombudsman to see what action was taken.

Very poor care my experience was with cares that had little experience, mis administers strong controlled pain medication, misuse of equipment and no checking or controls in place by the management. ongoing complaint with the company who upon requesting information sent details of another patient don't touch with a barge pole

Managers promise the earth before you sign up, they start by providing qualified staff who are then replaced with whoever they can find, one staff members previous role was serving at McDonald's !
I was told if I raised concerns they would terminate the contract. My elderly mother was rushed into hospital after losing over 10kg in a month due to malnutrition, whilst in hospital she was diagnosed as contracting E-coli due to poor personal hygiene, something Promedica was also supposed to provide.
Ambulance staff raised an immediate safeguarding concern against the carer, and the hospital refused to discharge Mum back into their care.
I am advised the care coordinator was aware of an issue regarding what she described as a ‘personality’ clash between Mum and the carer some 10 days previously and was arranging ‘emergency’ replacement.
Seven days passed and still the carer was not replaced, at this time Mum was admitted to hospital.
It transpires Mum was left to her own devices ie surviving on cream crackers going upstairs on the stair lift alone putting herself to bed and same in the morning in reverse.
I received many distressed calls from Mum trying to tell me things were not as they should be and the appalling care she was receiving.
Please do not use this company if you care for your loved ones

I had promised my father before he died that I would look after my mother and keep her at home as long as I could. I had a company come in to look after on a live contract.they were ok. However Promedica 24 were recommended to me and I will always be great full to them as the care my mother has received has been everything that my father and I could have wished for. The girls have not only looked after my mother but the house has been looked after and always clean. Any question I have had have been dealt with by Mark Muller straight away and I could not ask for better service. On the care side I have Gillian Louggar as area manager who sorted out anything I asked of her. She is absolutely fantastic at what she dose and a wonderful girl with it. I can only say that what has been the most difficult time in my life watching my mother who has dementia changing with time being looked after so we’ll has helped me to cope with it. Thanks you so much to Promedica 24 I know my father would be very happy.

Kind Regards
Stewart Watts

This company do not properly assess the specific requirements of each individual. Carers are assigned to clients with care needs which far exceed those communicated to, and therefore expected by, the carer and the level of the carer’s experience / training. This is potentially dangerous for the client and completely overwhelming and unfair for the carer.

Elderly relative discharged from hospital, needed 24/7 care in his home where he lived alone. Promedica team highly professional, caring throughout and very attentive to his needs. Very highly recommended.

Update 27/12/21

Eventually Promedica corrected the invoice in question however it has now become clear how little attention they paid to my complaint as they have made the same mistakes on my December invoice. No doubt I will again have to spend significant time and energy getting them to correct this one.

Update 05/10/21 11:18

In reply to Promedica's (automated?) response I would like to point out that I have already reached out to you regarding this problem, on 31st August some 5 weeks ago to be precise and I am still waiting for an adequate response.

Reply from Promedica24 05/10/21

Hi John

We are sorry to hear your experience did not meet our usually high standards. We strive to give the best quality service to all of our clients and we are saddened your experience did not reflect this. We take all feedback very seriously and your message will be passed to the relevant teams.

If you would like to get in touch with us to discuss this further, please do not hesitate to email us at promedica24.co.uk

Review 05/10/21

This is more a review of my dealings with the administrative side of Promedica24 and less of the care side.

I have used Promedica for more than two years to care for my elderly mother. Recently I have experienced a marked decline in the quality of their administration particularly their invoicing and response to questions and complaints.

On one invoice they attempted to charge me for two days care that had not been provided. It was left to me to spot this error and I have no confidence that they have any system in place to do so.

Furthermore on one invoice they attempted to levy a hidden charge, basically trying to charge 50% of the care rate even though there was no carer present. It was also impossible to determine for what I was being charged on the invoice, there was just a magic number. When I raised this issue with them I was informed (after waiting for 3 weeks) that I was being charged because I had requested a service suspension more than once in a six month period. This was simply incorrect as I had only requested one service suspension. I had to send two carers away (once because the carer was not competent and once because the carer was not vaccinated).

Promedica24's response to my questions and to my formal complaint has been incredibly slow and I am still waiting. Furthermore another part of the company is chasing me to pay the invoice that is the subject of my complaint. I now feel that it is important that other potential clients learn of my experience and that if they do experience this kind of problem with Promedica24 it seems to be incredibly difficult to gain a satisfactory response.

Should anyone be looking for a living care provider then please don’t hesitate to contact Gary Derbyshire at Promedica24. What a lovely gentleman. I found Gary to be knowledgeable and very supportive when enquiries were made. Over the last few weeks he has provided me with excellent advice both verbally and written. Also, I would like to commend Katrina Murphy who works with Gary too. She came out to see my Mother and I at home. I found her to be caring and considerate spending time assessing our whole situation. Through the whole process she made me feel at ease. I would certainly recommend Promedica24 living care for your loved one.

We would like to thank Lisa, Gary and Helen for all the time they so freely and generously gave us, for their kindness and understanding. Their help was much appreciated. In our very first conversation with Lisa we explained that we weren't even sure if it would be possible to arrange 24 hour care at home at all, let alone have Promedica 24 provide that care. This didn't stop them giving us advise, support and being a 'listening ear'. We found all three to be understanding and have a genuine concern and care for our relative, who sadly, because circumstances over took us, they never got to meet. Thank you again to Lisa, Gary and Helen.

Very poor company which promises the earth to get your business and then sends inexperienced carers to look after vulnerable clients. The carers complete a online assessment and this is classed as there training. The care manager we experienced is of poor quality and was meant to visit the carers regularly. In the 5 months we employed them she hardly came to the house and was impossible to contact when required leaving the carers with very little support in an emergency. When the carer spoke to their manager in Poland they were of no help while the client was having a TIA. The carer panicked and was clearly in shock as she didn't know the number for either emergency services or the NHS helpline this was just dangerous for the client.
When a complaint was made I received a very flippant reply from the team. The franchise manager Gary would listen to your problems but do nothing, I had a feeling that as long as the money kept coming in he wasn't really bothered. I tried to arrange a second contract and was acknowledged by text that Promedica were no longer interested in supplying a carer leaving the family to do the caring until a new company took the position.
Promedica are just a money grabbing second rate care company who should be disgusted with what they call professional care!!!

I contacted Promedica24 about possible live on care services for my Dad. Unfortunately hospitalisation has slowed down the process now and we haven’t yet started receiving care services. However I wanted to say that the people at Promedica24 have been brilliant in keeping in touch, giving us options, helping with assessments to try to get live in care started, working with hospital and social services. When Dad finally gets home from hospital I will do another review about the actual services.

Alison Smart has been a great source of advice and support. At the moment my dad has gone to a home after leaving hospital; but long term we may still consider a home care package and from my experience so far this is definitely the company we would use.
It is so important that when life changes, sometimes very rapidly, there are home care providers who understand the emotional as well as the practical impacts. Alison is understanding and has life experience that informs her advice - that makes a huge difference.

Excellent responsive and honest service when brokering for live in care for a gentleman living with dementia age 93. All the information required was given on the first approach and contact was made for me with the local care manager who set up an assessment date as close to that first phone call as possible

Our mums care needs have suddenly increased. We didn’t think this day would come so soon & really want mum to be able to stay in her own home but before speaking to Lisa, we didn’t know where to start or what (if any) financial assistance might be available to help her. Lisa from Promedica24 gave generous, impartial advice & guidance with no strings attached (a rare & wonderful service!) & has been incredibly informative, helpful & reassuring. We can now realistically hope to provide mum with the ‘live in care‘ that will enable her to continue enjoying her home & the company of her friends & neighbours of many years standing i.e Provide safe & helpful companionship for mum & peace of mind for us, her family. “Thank you Lisa”.

I called Promedica to simply get some help & advise. Lisa Colver was amazing. She went above & beyond to help me & point me in the right direction. I have no hesitation in recommending this company.

We have been using Promedica24 North Yorkshire & Lancashire now for over a year. The carers always work extremely hard, have been caring and professional in their attitude. Our care manager Katrina is also very professional and goes to a lot of trouble to ensure we get carers to suit our needs. The care has enable R to remain at home.

I asked Promedica24 Chester & Cheshire to deliver live-in care for my Dad, whilst my Mum recovered from an operation.
The Care Manager, Samantha, was lovely to work with and understood Dad's needs immediately. The care plan couldn't have been better. The care giver, Anna, was brilliant with both Dad and my Mum - nothing was too much trouble for her.
My sister and I had the peace of mind knowing that someone was with Dad at all times, should he have any problems (day or night).
I couldn't recommend them highly enough.

DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY! Don't believe it when they say all their carers speak fluent English, they don't! I shall be asking the CQC to do a full investigation into the way this company operates.
Following my mother's brain haemorrhage last year I finally got her home after 12 weeks in hospital & a care home. She now has dementia and requires full time 24 hour care. After 2 months it became clear that she needed two full time live in carers so this was requested by me and agreed but I wanted the new carer to have a covid test before coming to the house, not unreasonable given the current pandemic. They resisted strongly to this and called me 2 days after Christmas to say they were removing the existing carer later that afternoon! This would have left an extremely vulnerable 86 year old woman without any care, disgraceful attitude. So I had to reluctantly agree to the new carer coming without a negative test. 3 moths later, I decided to give the company their 28 days notice to be brought forward by mutual agreement but no sooner than the end of the month which would have given me about 3 weeks to find alternative carers. This would have been feasible and had been agreed with the regional care manager. A few days later I got a call from the same woman to say they were pulling out both the carers in less than 2 days as they couldn't cope with my mother. As such I have had to care for her myself and have now got her into a care home until the new carers come next week. They clearly didn't qualify the last 3 carers as each one of them lasted about one week. Promedica are a very unprofessional company purely interested in profiting from other peoples medical misfortune. Avoid

Knowing that I wouldn’t be able to cope on my own following surgery I arranged care through Promedica24. The arrangements and oversight were smooth and efficient, Gary and Katrina were always at the other end of the phone. The carer was very willing and helpful and always respected my privacy. I would definitely recommend this service, thank you