[MargaretR]

I do not expect my only child (a son) to do for me what Margaret does for her mother,
because he has a 2 hour commute to work every day and has health problems of his own.
His wife also works, and she has parents older and sicker than me.

I agree that some homecare workers do not meet expectations, but when you pay peanuts (about £7 an hour), you get monkeys.
I find that the younger they are the less 'gumption' they have, eg. needing detailed instruction on how to boil an egg , how to 'damp dust' furniture.

As a private (not LCC funded) customer I have the advantage in that I can request (not demand) the carers I prefer.

For most of this year I have been fortunate to have the same two good carers for most of the time.

Staff turnover is high. Recently one of the two fell sick and the other left the job.
For two months my life has been more difficult because carers new to me have been allocated - as many as six different carers in a week. When I have to explain 'where, why and how' ( eg. bedding in that cupboard, nighties in that drawer, how to operate washer and dishwasher) daily to strangers in my home, I do get exasperated often.

So even as a 'private funder' the service falls short of what I need.