{"id":2871,"date":"2022-04-04T11:32:11","date_gmt":"2022-04-04T11:32:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/integratedcarejournal.com\/?p=2871"},"modified":"2022-05-20T11:27:55","modified_gmt":"2022-05-20T11:27:55","slug":"more-support-needed-fatigued-social-care-workforce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/integratedcarejournal.com\/more-support-needed-fatigued-social-care-workforce\/","title":{"rendered":"More support needed for “fatigued” social care workforce"},"content":{"rendered":"
The crisis facing the social care sector is fundamentally a workforce one. The sector itself is a large employer in the UK, employing about 1.54 million people<\/a>, equivalent to five per cent of the workforce. As one participant noted, \u201cthe sector itself is a huge contributor to the economy and to society\u201d. Given that staff pay is the single biggest expenditure faced by care homes, workforce management should be front and centre whenever system finances are being considered.<\/p>\n Even before the pandemic, there were about 112,000 social care vacancies in England, with jobs paying only \u00a38.50 an hour. Following the pandemic, the vacancy figures are assumed to be worse. Key issues driving individuals away from working in the social care sector include low pay, stressful working conditions and a low sense of worth.<\/p>\n A participant of the evidence session emphasised that the working conditions of the social care sector have led to 74 per cent of care professionals reporting that they regularly experience stress at work, an average number of sick days 25 per cent above the national average, and a staff turnover rate significantly higher than the national average.<\/p>\n As phrased by one participant, social care is suffering from a \u201cfatigued workforce\u201d not only due to the pressures of the pandemic, but issues which have existed within the sector for much longer. The problems within the social care workforce are chronic , and are considered by many to constitute a crisis. As one participant said, \u201cclearly a workforce strategy is one of the absolute essentials that we need to have to make a success of the sector over the next decade or so\u201d.<\/p>\n “The social care sector should work alongside recruitment organisations to recruit young, bright people into social care, and help them consider where a career may lead.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n One problem identified was narrow recruitment to the sector. It was stressed that within social care, \u201cwe should cast our nets wider in a recruitment approach\u2026 and recruit not only people with previous experience\u201d. The social care sector should work alongside recruitment organisations to recruit young, bright people into social care, and help them consider where a career may lead.<\/p>\n It was also suggested that more effort must be made to recruit hard-to-reach and underemployed groups, including people living with disabilities, and immigrant workers. \u201cWhat frustrates me is that there are individuals in these groups who can be wonderful, caring staff [but]are missed, because hiring managers are too narrow in their focus\u201d, said one participant.<\/p>\n Staff retention rates in social care are low. Network members noted that social care workers often leave the sector for other, similarly paid jobs, such as retail roles, while few choose to leave and work for the NHS. One network member identified that \u201cbetween care assistants in the NHS and the social care sector, there is around a 23 per cent deficit in social care. The terms and conditions are vastly better in the NHS. Pensions, sick pay, overtime and unsocial hours all contribute to that deficit.\u201d<\/p>\n Essentially, social care workers are underpaid and undervalued. For both better recruitment and retention, social care workers must be appropriately paid and treated as though they are valued. Some network members identified low pay as the key driver for individuals choosing to leave the social care workforce, and yet, it was emphasised that social care is a both a skilled and psychologically demanding profession, and should be commensurately well-paid.<\/p>\n