It happens just as often in the UK, trust me! When I've been "between carers" I've used care services to cover until I can hire someone new and they've been universally awful. They don't turn up at the time they're meant to (often not turning up at all with no warning, as you say!), half of the carers provided didn't have the necessary skills or training to adequately look after me (I'm not only immobile and ill, I'm fed by a tube in my intestine which requires specialist knowledge about how to mix my feed, how to measure and administer my meds, how to maintain a sterile environment plus full infection control standards or even how to safely clean and maintain the stoma (the hole the tube goes through) in order to prevent infections or skin ulcers). The prices they charge are so ridiculously high for such a low level of care and it's not really surprising considering that they mostly pay the actual carer's the lowest legal wage, even though they're charging the clients more than double the amount they pay their staff. It's sickening and in many cases the people that suffer as a result don't even have a voice to speak out about the horrific treatment they face! It makes me so angry!! I'm incredibly lucky to have an amazing husband who works less than 10 minutes away. His boss is incredibly understanding (I think it helps that i worked there too before I got too severely disabled) and if I text him and tell him I need him then he's always allowed to leave immediately and work from home in order to care for me. Many people don't have that kind of support system if their "professional" care fails. What your Uncle has experienced is so common around the world and it's infuriating to be treated as a burden. To most care companies, disabled people aren't actually humans deserving of dignified treatment, we're just cash-cows that they can milk for every possible penny.