THE home care service provided by Cordia to its many clients across Glasgow is essential for people’s health and well being.

The many elderly and disabled people who are visited at home and given help with washing, dressing and eating cannot do without the service.

For years the staff have been praised by those they care for and their families, but something has gone wrong in the re-organisation of the service.

The number of complaints recorded by the Care Inspectorate and the accusations of bullying and harassment reported to unions cannot be ignored.

Staff members are being disciplined for missed care visits while workers report unreasonable conditions and expectations. Services have been affected by cuts and to expect to reduce budgets and staff and not to see an impact on the end user, in this case some of the most dependent people in the city, seems unrealistic.

There are many factors leading to this situation where the service is not working for the clients or the carers, which can be at different points the responsibility of local, Scottish and UK Government.

The bottom line however is that the people whose needs the service should be designed to meet are suffering.

The provision of home care in the city is a lifeline to many and the issues raised by both the clients and the staff need to be resolved.