I am a person in Home Care and am 76
I am a person in Home Care and am 76. Some years ago I experienced a major structural event that resulted in great pain and debilitation, which is still the case. I was awarded a high level Home Care Package. I have also had a heart attack and have other serious heart and numerous other health conditions.At that time I was impressed by reviews of Holdsworth Community and appointed them as my Home Care Provider.
For a few months all worked out well but my then case manager did not follow up on a number of essential maintenance items for over a year. So nothing happened. He did not respond to communications as well, for much of the time.
He also wrongly addressed an essential item for me even though he had my correct address and, after advising him, he told me to sort it out myself, as he had no time and that I would now not receive any more essential products!
As a consequence, I was compelled to leave Holdsworth and join another HCP provider who charged a far lesser fee and who provided excellent service, but because the transport division of Holdsworth was kind to me, and still is to this day, I continued to use them, almost exclusively, for many years. This cost comes off my package.
This year though under a new CEO the cost of transport went up for those with a HCP from $40 a return to $50 a return and from 1 September 2025 to $70 a return, even if the trip is around the corner.
This an increase of 75% in under a year. I need to take transport almost every day for medical purposes meaning an extra circa 7-8K off my package annually. Like all Community transport services, the company is able to take more than one paying customer at once, and often does.
The then manager of transport was very kind and sympathetic and based on my current spend of over 1K per month, and growing, tried her best to obtain a loyalty and volume concession for me as I need my remaining funds for physio, podiatry, hydro, home maintenance, and many other areas.
Her employment has since been terminated abruptly after 19 years of dedicated service. Other staffers have also been dismissed across different parts of the organisation.
Both the new CEO and the board rejected my request outright advising me that a 75% increase is justified as they needed more income to cover costs. But 75% increase in a year is grossly unfair in my view! Imagine if Coles, Woolworths or a telco did this there would be outrage.
In this regard I was told by both the CEO and the board that my years of loyalty and my current spend did not count at all towards a reduction, even for trips around the corner or down the road, and therefore if I cannot afford Holdsworth transport I should go elsewhere. They did not even offer to match the other major provider of transport in East Sydney at the time. This is cold heartlessness and poor business rationale.
These are, however, not their advertised brand values or published ethos, nor what I would have expected from top management and the board but in my view there has been a noticeable decline in many areas under the new hierarchy.
I have been told by multiple staff members and also witnessed first hand that many Holdsworth staff I know have become very unhappy under the new regime, and how they are now being treated, and this impacts me as well, in many ways.
I suggested to the board that they undertake professional market research in this regard as staff are at the forefront of the company brand. This is unlikely to happen though, in my view, as this will reveal an "unwelcome" picture.
Holdsworth do have an internal happiness survey every year but this year, for the first time, I was told, that the staff had not been advised of the outcome of the 2025 survey. I am not surprised.
I placed a comment on an appropriate Facebook post of Holdsworth Community but the entire post was deleted. So much for allowing openness.
I am still very fond of the Holdsworth transport team and hope that there will be positive changes to the top management structure. I am sorry that many are so very stressed.
Following my constructive criticism my transport was terminated by Holdsworth Community by email without an opportunity to discuss their accusations against me with them, or providing me with precise details of what they were accusing me of! In my view this is terrible treatment of an elderly hanicapped person! One star is one star too much in my view.
My hope is that Holdsworth will, in future, attain leadership that once again aligns its humanitarian brand values with stakeholders at all levels and that these drivers determine their actions and interactions.