A review of home-care services provided to the elderly in England has found that good care is being delivered, but a minority of people are affected by late or missed calls, lack of continuity of care workers, poor care planning and more.

They began the review of home care services in April 2012.

Throughout the review, they found that 74 per cent of the 250 services inspected are meeting all five of the National standards we checked.

The review found on many occasions, people received no prior notice that they would be visited by a care worker they didn’t know.

Visits were often delayed or sometimes cancelled without prior notice.

Risks associated with a person’s care or medical conditions had not been assessed and care plans had not been updated for several years.

Some services did not have clear systems to monitor the quality and information in care plans.

David Behan, CQC Chief Executive, said: "People have a right to expect to be treated as an individual, to be able to exercise choice, and to make sure their carers are aware of their specific care needs. We found plenty of evidence of this however we also found elements of poor care which happen too often."

(GK)