Care workers in Bury have expressed concerns that 15-minute visits to vulnerable people are not long enough to provide a "good level of care".

The council has published a review into its Care at Home service, under which 23 care providers are commissioned to deliver personal care, moving and handling, nutrition and hydration and medication support to mainly elderly people in their own homes.

The council defended some 15-minute visits saying many people using the service prefer not to pay for a longer call when it is not needed.

A review of the service, which is budgeted to cost £9.9m over the next year, has been published by the council.

The review highlights a feedback meeting with providers, with some expressing concerns over the length of some visits with carers only given a quarter hour time slot to provide support.

The report said: "Some providers raised concerns that 15-minute visits are an issue as they are not long enough to provide good quality care and the time people need, especially when they are trying to promote independence.”

Concerns were also raised that recruitment and retention of staff remained "a massive challenge" in the care sector.

The council said it is in the process of putting together a workforce support offer for providers to help with this.

The local authority said that 15-minute visits were only used in "specific circumstances".

A spokesman said: “The council commissions many hundreds of hours of home care each day, and ensures that each person has calls long enough to meet their needs at that time, which more often than not is 30 minutes or more.

“There are, however, occasions where the call may be shorter than this, for example where only a check visit or assistance with medication is needed.

"This will be agreed with the person who will be receiving that care and support, and is normally part of a larger package of support.

“The review of our home care service has identified that our home care providers would prefer not to deliver these shorter calls.

"However, many of our home care users prefer to have shorter calls when there are not other tasks that need to be undertaken.

“This is because adult social care remains a service that people have to contribute to, and the users of home care prefer not to pay for a longer call when a longer call is not needed.

“This is not a new dilemma and even guidance by NICE on the length of home care calls states that ‘visits shorter than 30 minutes will only be permitted for specific, time limited’ functions, such as checking if medicine has been taken.”

User feedback in the review of home care in Bury was largely positive. Of those receiving care who responded to a survey, the average quality rating out of five stars was 4.22 for all providers and not one person rated their current provider less than three out of five.

The majority of providers were rated five out of five by those who they assist.