ELDERLY and disabled people are routinely given home visits of as little as 15 minutes by care workers, who are themselves marginalised staff facing notorious zero hours contracts, according to research.

Unison found local government funding cuts across the UK are behind the worsening picture for both patients and staff, as those needing home visits face a bewildering array of providers and the staff involved are increasingly marginalised by not knowing their future hours.

Responses to its freedom of information requests show 97% of contracts by UK local authorities do not guarantee care workers hours from one week to the next.

Some councils fragment their service across more than 100 providers, making abuse much more likely.

Unison in Scotland highlighted the fact that all but three local authorities - Glasgow, Falkirk and Angus - sanctioned home care visits of as little as 15 minutes, while many had contracts with providers which failed to guarantee hours for staff.

Calling for the 15-minute slots to be outlawed, the union's Scottish Secretary Mike Kirby said: "Austerity cuts are piling pressure onto an overstretched system but it is entirely wrong that in a supposedly civilised society councils are commissioning 15-minute home care appointments.

"Any member of the public can understand that 15 minutes is not enough to provide even the most basic care, let alone to very frail clients.

"People with dementia also find the rush of such short visits particularly distressing."

He added: "We want councils to sign up to our Ethical Home Care Charter and to say that the time allocated to visits will be matched to the needs of the clients.

"There should be an initial review of all visits under 30 minutes. The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities denied that financial pressures meant quality of care was being compromised."

A Cosla spokesman said: "Commissioning in blocks of 15 minutes means councils can be flexible in the way this time is allocated to home care clients.

"If a 30-minute minimum were introduced, as suggested, flexibility would be compromised, the overall number of visits would be reduced, and visits for people who need for example, a medication prompt or a security check, may become unaffordable."