A CARE agency boss has spoken out about unscrupulous organisations after a worried son told of his problems finding suitable carers for his parents.

Simon Crowther's Abbeydale Homecare recently took over the care of Rafik Lunat's mother Aysha after he experienced problems with other agencies.

Mr Lunat complained to the Lancashire Evening Telegraph and Blackburn with Darwen Council claiming that care agencies sent workers who were inexperienced, did not speak their language and were unaware of the cultural and religious needs to both his mother and father.

Now Mr Crowther of Abbeydale Homecare, which has offices in Darwen and the Ribble Valley, is warning other families to beware of unscrupulous care agencies.

He said: "We recently took over the care of Mrs Lunat and we have had no complaints from her family who have been involved in working out a care plan for her.

"There are bad agencies out there that give our industry a bad name and I want to reassure families that there are responsible agencies, like us, which are trying to push standards higher.

"All our staff are trained both in-house and on NVQ courses and all their references are checked. Our care managers visit each family to work out care plans for the individual concerned.

"We do have problems recruiting Asian staff, particularly those who speak Gujerati and we are working to address that problem.

"We are constantly learning about Asian culture and religion and we desperately want to hear from Asian people who are looking for work in our industry."

Mr Crowther is backing government plans to put tighter controls on the care industry and introduce standards to which homecare agencies must adhere.

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