Recent reports into the standard of care homes don’t make cheerful reading. The financial crisis is being blamed for the dwindling of beds, which many are claiming causes a crisis for the whole sector.The thinktank ResPublica conducted a survey that found almost one in 10 beds in British care homes will vanish in the next five years, with a total of up to 37,000 beds, or 1,500 care homes lost by 2020.This leaves the NHS to accept a £3bn burden involving care home residents being forced into hospitals, where it’s said they would occupy one in four available beds.
What caused the care crisis?
There has been a widespread reduction in the fees local authorities contribute to the care of residents, and a rise in staff costs. The latter is set to increase further with the National Living Wage being introduced in April.[Read our blog post: Planning For The National Living Wage]There have also been significant funding cuts to adult social care budgets, estimated to amount to £4.6 billion over the past five years.Care work standards are poor. Health watchdog the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has reported that two in five homes are falling below expected standards amid concerns about safety.Andrea Sutcliffe, CQC’s chief adult social care inspector claimed 40 per cent either required improvement or were inadequate. While not a positive statistic, it should be remembered that this is still a minority. Over 350 (almost 60 per cent) of British care homes were rated “good” on the CQC website.
However, Care England chief executive Martin Green is on record as conceding that “this is probably the start of a really serious issue for the care industry.” He added that high quality care could not be guaranteed under current financial constraints, and asked that the CQC clarify how much local authorities need to pay in order to guarantee adequate levels of care.Whether he will receive a meaningful response, and whether it’s possible to give one: that’s up for debate.[Read more about how Atlantic Resource works in the care sector]
How can care sector workers help?
Care work is often about trying to bring light in sometimes trying and dark times for people. In response to such reports and bleak forecasts, vital care worker tools of sunny optimism and black humour can only be useful.While the figures point to undeniable reasons for concern, the sector should still not be afraid of celebrating what it has. That is, a steely core of professional and extremely hard working carers who we hope will be there when we need them.By demonstrating and exhibiting a pride in care work standards, our sector and our care workers, we will hopefully attract more people the sector. In doing so we should foster a wider appreciation for the work, and trust that the worrying trend of disappearing care homes will somehow be arrested. And with a rapidly ageing population in Britain, most of us depend on it.If you’re seeking high quality new care workers, please get in touch.
