CARE workers visiting homes must be given more than 30 minutes to spend with elderly and disabled patients and sufficient travel time between appointments, a health watchdog said yesterday.

Short home visits are unacceptable unless part of a wider package of support, according to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice).

The Daily Telegraph revealed earlier this year that a rising number of carers’ appointments were completed within minutes.

Eight councils provided at least 593,000 care visits lasting up to just five minutes in three years from 2010/11 to 2012/13.

Three-quarters of councils commission visits of 15 minutes, previous research from public-sector union Unison shows.

Carers have complained that time limitations restrict them from meeting vulnerable clients’ basic needs and that many are not paid for time spent travelling between appointments.

Charities have raised fears that people in need of help are being neglected and are being forced to choose between being washed or fed.

There were “very, very worrying practices around in terms of what local authorities are commissioning,” said Bridget Warr, chief executive of the United Kingdom Homecare Association.

Ms Warr, who chaired the group of experts that developed the Nice guidance, added: “It’s impossible for the care workers to do the sort of work they want to do.”

The guidance says care contracts tendered by councils to privateers should also “ensure that workers have time to do their jobs without being rushed or compromising the dignity or wellbeing of the person who uses services.”

According to Nice, 470,000 people used council-funded home care in England in 2013/14 and almost 80 per cent were at least 65 years old.