Social Care System On Brink Of Collapse

[emmie]

as 900 staff a day quit the profession

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-39507859

[emmie]

if young people don't want to take up jobs in the care homes, where are we going to get the staff that's needed to help with our elderly.

[jno]

sounds like a failure of the market to me. The job's hard work yet it doesn't pay much and a quarter of them are on zero-hours contract. No wonder not many people want to do it. If pay levels reflect how much work is worth, it seems neither employers nor potential employees rate the job.

The obvious first step would be to raise the pay sharply, but I don't expect them to. If that doesn't work, try to attract immigrants, as Enoch Powell did; but people don't like immigrants either.

[emmie]

the pay scales may be low but the fact is as i can testify the costs to the patient are not low. My mum was paying 300 quid a week for home care, twice a day 1 hour in the morning and half and hour in the afternoon, this seems like a lot of money to me. According to some stats i looked at the cost of a care home can be astronomical, and it depends on where you live in the country, some were as high as a thousand a week.

so we get more nursing staff from abroad, what about those who come from far flung places and leave their children, homes behind. I do feel sorry for those that do this, but not sure what the answer is to this shortage.

[pixie374]

It absolutely is. Residential homes are being strangled by red tape and rules, while there are no rules in homecare whatsoever.
The biggest branch of homes here in South Bucks are trying to change all the contracts for staff so they are all the same- reduce the pay to minimum wage and lose all night, weekend, DRP enhancements and a week of annual leave. Due to a lack of money.
Carers that have been there over 20 years are handing in their notice and because the law is now that all carers have to do a care certificate before they start (which then belongs to them to take where they like), these homes will be glorified training centres in a couple of years.

[EDDIE51]

Zero hours contracts are worthless if you want to get a mortgage , with no security of income no mortgage company will touch you.
I can't see a way out of the situation, in fact it is just going to get worse. More elderly people and more care staff needed but few want to do the job.
I hate to mention 'Brexit' but once we are out of the EU the situation is going to get even worse with fewer EU citizens able to work here.
I have worked in 3 different care homes and over 60% of the staff are from EU countries working temporarily in the UK.

[emmie]

doesn't bode well for those like my mum who need care either in the home or in a nursing home.

[pixie374]

Not necessarily, Eddie- with fewer workers from abroad, the wages would have to rise, so it becomes more attractive anyway.
It isn't necessarily badly paid, it depends what your job is.

[bednobs]

300 pounds for 14 hours care seems reasonable to me,

[emmie]

Eddie
surely if those who are qualified carers come from the EU
they should be offered jobs, what has Brexit got to do with it.

[EDDIE51]

emmie, One to one 24 hour 365 day a year care which many elderly care home residents need costs over £4000 a week. You need to employ at least 3 full time staff to look after one person 1 to 1 24/7 365 days a year.
Even basic residential care for someone able to do most things for themselves is over £500 a week!

[emmie]

bednobs
i thought that was expensive until i saw the rates for care homes.

[bednobs]

i would dispute that "many" care home residents need 1-2-1 care for 24hrs a day

[pixie374]

I've never known anyone have one to one care in a residential home. To have a live-in carer 24 hours a day at home is about £600 a week.

[emmie]

its a lot of money if you are having to stump up as my mum has been doing.
so how do you keep the staff from quitting, make it more lucrative, not zero hours contracts, better pay, working conditions?

[pixie374]

Better pay- that's the most usual reason for leaving. You can get more stacking shelves in supermarkets often, without all the extra responsibility, but there is so much spent on training, homes can't afford to pay any more.

[EDDIE51]

emmie, The main reason for leaving the EU is to 'Control our Borders' or keep out immigrants to put it in plain language.( particularly unskilled immigrants such as work in care homes)
At the moment any EU citizen can simply arrive in the UK and start work,no formalities at all.
After we leave the EU every person who wants to come to work here will have to apply for a visa. The intention is to restrict visas to skilled workers so many of those who want to work in unskilled jobs like the care industry will be refused.
It's not only the care industry, hospitality and tourism such as Hotels rely on EU migrants for 75% of staff at the moment! Not to mention the NHS ! All of those will be competing for a dwindling number of workers.

[emmie]

Eddie
if there is a shortage of care workers then we wouldn't have any choice surely but to recruit from overseas?
Non EU carers for example, they seem to proliferate in hospitals, at least going on my mum's current trip to hospital.

[hereIam]

Quite scary really.

Typical of EDDIE to bring Brexit into it though !! He's one of the doomsayers of Brexit ...

[mikey4444]

I have been banging on about this for years !

And once we send lots of horrid foreigners home, after BREXIT is complete, the situation will be even more acute.

Its time for everybody to sit around a table and decided....do we want our old and vulnerable to be treated abominably, or do we want to raise taxes and fund the care system properly ?

[emmie]

mikey
so how do propose to keep the staff happy, a case of more money, more government intervention?