Adult social care vacancy rate hits 10% – Community Care

There appears to be some misconception both in the article and in some of the comments.

In the article. ‘the 1.25 percentage point rise in national insurance contributions and dividend taxes introduced this month’ is being split between the NHS and Social Care over 3 years, with, initially the bulk of the money going to the NHS. Even if £500 million is being promised for Social Care is is way below the amounts that are required which is more like, £12 billion, which will only bring funding back to 2010 levels, which then was wholly insufficient.

Then is the social care funding for council run Adult Social Care or for care workers in care homes, home care, respite care, supported living, hospices, etc or both.

The rate of pay for care workers is also wholly insufficient now a minimum, the National Living Wage of £9.50 per hour and not the £10.10 being offered to non-UK workers, while it should be a minimum of the Real Living Wage of £9.90. But, workers can get £14/15 per hour at Supermarkets for much less responsibilities. Care staff have the life of the persons needing care in their hands, not just providing personal care of washing, dressing and toileting, but dispensing medication, meal preparation, emotional support, managing finances, ensuring safeguarding and much more.

It is not just that care is in the private sector, for some councils also have care workers, maybe not employed directly, but through agencies with a long-arm connection, where care rates may be slightly higher but not by much. If done correctly it is a very demanding profession, not the misconception of many that it is unskilled for it does take great skills to provide care consistently of good quality. The workers, if providing good quality care should be respecting their choices and dignity of those to whom they provide care to and not just provide care how they wish for care should be person-centred.

But there are unsocial hours too much travel time and not fully funded, if at all, training should be first class and relevant and much more.

Social care has always been the very poor relation of the NHS, when it should be held in equal esteem by both Government and the UK population and has never been sufficiently funded and even more so over the last 12 years or so.

If more is not done for social care and done urgently, then the quality and quantity of care will be severely diminished to where it is not really available. This will create even more pressures on a currently over-burdened NHS.

You may not, currently require Social Care, but when you do or a family member does then you may find it is not there and it is not just social care for the elderly but for any age starting at times from birth and |COVID| is increasing demand on Social Care as well as the NHS.

Don’t be fooled by the very ignorant and discriminative Government. who are just following many other Governments before them of any Party.

 

Source: Adult social care vacancy rate hits 10% – Community Care

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Government to revive CQC ratings of council adults’ services after more than decade-long gap | Community Care

Worrying times for many reasons, lack of sufficient finance, but that is nothing new, Government interventions and again nothing new.

I agree with jan, fix the system first, for the system has to be flexible to meet all needs, while currently it is far from it. persons with needs have to fit the system, while it should be the system fitting the person. All persons are individuals with having many interwoven factors, so what is perhaps correct for one, may not be for another who appears to be displaying similar needs.

Social care has never been sufficiently funded and 10 years of austerity cuts by Conservative Governments has caused untold damage and then we have the costs related to COVID. Here the Government promised to cover these costs, but to date the funding supplied is falling way short, causing cash strapped councils even more funding problems.

Social care like health care is not cheap and it should not be run on a ‘shoestring’, for to not provide sufficient social care is storing more problems to be catered for under health, like it or not health and social care are instinkingly interwoven.

So, get the funding correct and then work to get the system fixed.

More powers are to be given to the CQC, but again they are kept short of funding and getting good and consistent good quality costs, so, for them to get anywhere near to monitoring quality then they also need to be sufficiently funded.

Neither social care, health care or checking on quality should be used as a ‘political football’ in that funding is given, restricted, etc on the whims of Governments. Within that funding staff care has also to be a priority, for there is much clamour for sufficient wages for health staff, do you notice it is always referenced to nurses and doctors, when there are a multitude of others within health and none can work without the others, for it is as a team that health is provided. An unclean area, will be detrimental to health carer no matter how good the nurses and doctors are.

This is the same in social care, where pay is abysmal, especially to those who deliver direct care, care work is a skilled employment for it is not just preparing meals, toileting, personal hygiene,etc, for while important, it has to be done in conjunction with emotional care, financial care, safeguarding, and many others, which are far from easy to place a monetary cost on for time is the main factor. Short calls 2 or 3 times per day are not the answer, for these do not allow sufficient time for the recognised care, toileting, dressing, meal preparation, etc, so no time for the other aspects.

So funding is way short even for the recognised care, let alone a pay rate for care workers to recognise the skills they should have and this all adds to quality of care, less time and money reduces quality, no matter how good the care workers are.

This Government has throughout COVID spent money here and there without looking to see if they have the funding to do so, but, in reality, no funding for social care. It is as though this and previous Governments do not see the ne4ed for social care and this needs to change, for if it does not the outlook for social care is not good.

Many are looking to the new White Paper, Integration and innovation: working together to improve health and social care for all, as a possible saviour, but that has to be seen. On face value, it appears to have some good points, but within are some that are not so good. The reduction from 135 CCGs to 42 ICSs could well be not a good point, that is not that the existing CCGs were good, for they did have their faults, as to how many, that depended on who you were asking.

So, the White Paper needs to be looked at very carefully.

Will Social Care survive, now that is the question?

 

Source: Government to revive CQC ratings of council adults’ services after more than decade-long gap | Community Care

CQC campaign calls on public to shape future of social care : Care Home Professional

The Care Quality Commission and Healthwatch England have launched a new campaign that calls on the public to help shape the future of health and social care.

Source: CQC campaign calls on public to shape future of social care : Care Home Professional

Care leaders voice concerns after duplicate material discovered in CQC reports : Care Home Professional

Care leaders have voiced their concerns over the CQC’s inspection system following revelations this week that three advisers had been dismissed for duplicating material in reports.

The Times revealed on Tuesday that almost 40 care homes will have to be re-inspected following the incidents. The CQC responded to the report with a statement confirming the removal of the individuals from inspections and that re-inspections would have to take place.

Source: Care leaders voice concerns after duplicate material discovered in CQC reports : Care Home Professional

Director Rachel Gilbert explains Care UK’s successful nursing formula : Care Home Professional: 61chrissterry

Rachel Gilbert, Director of Care Quality and Governance, explains how Care UK excels in nursing care in an increasingly challenging marketplace.

Source: Director Rachel Gilbert explains Care UK’s successful nursing formula : Care Home Professional: 61chrissterry

Independent inquiry into CQC whistleblower claims | News | Health Service Journal

The Care Quality Commission has announced a former civil servant will carry out an independent inquiry into a former inspector’s claims that reports of poor care at Whorlton Hall hospital were not acted on.

Following a BBC Panorama investigation last week, which exposed horrifying abuse of learning disabled patients at the Durham hospital, former CQC inspector Barry Stanley-Wilkinson claimed he had led an investigation of the hospital in 2015 and proposed it be rated “inadequate”.

Mr Wilkinson claimed his report, written after a three-day visit and involving seven members of staff, was buried by the CQC and never published, leading him to resign in protest. He claimed on social media that he became a whistleblower, and that a subsequent investigation concluded his report should have been published.

The CQC last week apologised for failing to identify abuse of patients at the hospital. It added the 2015 report “did not raise any concerns about abusive practice” and that the report lacked the evidence to justify a rating of “requires improvement” for the hospital. It is unclear why it referred to a “requires improvement” rating.

Today, the CQC announced it had asked David Noble, a former senior civil servant, to carry out an independent review of the claims and how Mr Stanley-Wilkinson’s concerns were handled.

Mr Noble worked across Whitehall, including for the Home Office and Cabinet Office as well as the European Commission.

His review will focus on concerns raised about the draft report prepared in 2015, and how they were addressed through the CQC’s internal processes.

The CQC has also said it is commissioning a wider review of its regulation of Whorlton Hall between 2015 and 2019, which will include recommendations for how its regulation of similar services can be improved.

It has pledged to publish the full terms of reference for both independent reviews on its website and said the findings will be presented to its public board.

Welcoming the CQC’s two reviews, health secretary Matt Hancock said: “I was appalled by the disturbing allegations of abuse at Whorlton Hall and am determined to ensure lessons are learnt so this never happens again…It is clear that opportunities to intervene were missed and we must be open and transparent in getting to the bottom of why this happened.”

Last week, Mr Hancock called for a review into the care of every patient in long-term segregation or seclusion.

The CQC previously hired Mr Noble to investigate claims the watchdog covered up an alleged rape of a vulnerable patient at a care home in London by a sex offender. In his report, published last year, Mr Noble concluded there was “no evidence whatsoever that there was any cover-up at CQC”, although he did find fault with some of its regulation and processes.

 

Source: Independent inquiry into CQC whistleblower claims | News | Health Service Journal