AS Powys County Council continue to face mounting criticism over its handling of the transfer of in-county domiciliary care packages to four new providers earlier this year, Talgarth county councillor William Powell, the Welsh Liberal Democrat AM for Mid & West Wales, has warned this week that the council has significantly underestimated the scale of the challenge.

Calling for the council to resolve the situation as a matter of utmost urgency amid claims of staffing problems with the newly contracted care companies, the county councillor further alleged: "'The latest case work referrals that I have been dealing with indicate that there is still a very major problem indeed with domiciliary care arrangements in Powys. The newly contracted care companies are clearly experiencing huge difficulties with recruiting new staff."

The AM's claims were supported by Powys County Councillor for Llanidloes, Gareth Morgan, who expressed serious concerns this week over the care reforms. "Dividing such a huge and rural county between so few contractors has been hopelessly challenging. It is clear that the contractors have not had the manpower available to deliver their contractual obligations to the standard the service users had become accustomed under the previous smaller contractors who delivered care. This is evidenced by the fact that carers have had to be brought in from far away and some companies are still attempting to recruit more carers," he says.

See this week's ITALICB&RITALIC for more.