Recognising the demands being placed on social care staff

Holding hands

The critical importance of health and social care services has never been more evident and it’s important we recognise the demands being placed on social care staff arising from these exceptional circumstances.

Social distancing is not possible when  providing lifeline care and the social care staff who are not in the identified vulnerable groups are putting the needs of others before their own.

In addition to being mindful of the hard-pressed hospitals and NHS staff, it is important to recognise how much more we are also asking of our social care staff.  Staff who are working in a sector that is under-resourced in comparison to other health and care services.

Royal Blind, Erskine and CrossReach have submitted a joint statement to the Scottish Parliament’s Health and sport Committee calling for action.  All three charities deliver high quality residential care by recruiting and retaining a compassionate and skilled workforce and by committing to pay a living wage to their staff and investing in specialist care.  However, the costs are not reflected in the current funding arrangements agreed through the national care homes contract, leaving charities subsidising local authority funded places by up to £500 per resident, per week.

With rising costs and an increasingly challenging environment for fundraising, this became unsustainable for third sector providers before the impact of coronavirus hit. 

It is clear, more support is needed for social care services that take a huge strain away from the NHS in both ordinary and extraordinary times.  They care for people who, up until recently, would have been hospitalised and they do this at a much reduced cost.

We appreciate that there will be long-term economic consequences of the pandemic across different sectors of society but when the intensity subsides, a new and different conversation is needed about the real and sustained resources social care services need to continue their vital role.
Read the full article by Mark O’Donnell

From The Scotsman, Tuesday 24 March 2020

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