Latest News from Everycare
Up to a quarter of the home care workers will be made to look for other jobs if Covid-19 vaccination becomes mandatory, a new survey reveals.
A six-week consultation was launched on 9 September to decide whether Covid and flu vaccinations should be made compulsory for home care workers and the NHS workforce, but according to the latest survey published by the Homecare Association, it reveals almost a quarter of home care providers thought they would lose over 25 per cent of their staff, “creating a risk” that home care will not be available for “tens of thousands of older and disabled people” who need support in their own home.
The survey also reported around a third of providers would expect to lose under 10 per cent of their workforce, while 40 per cent reported that they would lose between 10 and 24 per cent of their staff. Over 90 per cent thought it was certain or likely that recruitment will become harder if this comes into force and over 80 per cent thought they would need to dismiss staff as a result.
Dr Jane Townson, chief executive of the Homecare Association said: “While progress is being made where currently 83.2 per cent of home care workers have had the first dose of vaccine, and 73.7 per cent the second dose.
“We understand people who use services, and their families expect care workers to be vaccinated. Vaccination is also desirable to help protect the health and safety of care workers themselves.
“The Homecare Association strongly supports vaccination of the homecare workforce and we lobbied hard, right from the beginning, to ensure it was as easy as possible for home care workers to access vaccinations.”
The the full story visit the homecare.co.uk website
Shortages of care staff, who support older or disabled people in the community, are causing major problems for hospitals, the BBC has learned.
NHS chief executives say rising numbers of patients are stuck in hospitals in England due to a lack of care staff.
The situation is “dire”, according to NHS Providers, which represents health service trusts.
The government says extra funding and a regular recruitment drive will help boost the care workforce.
Care companies are facing acute problems in recruiting and retaining staff, according to a report which suggests there are now more unfilled care jobs than before the pandemic.
Shortages of care staff, who support older or disabled people in the community, are causing major problems for hospitals, the BBC has learned.
NHS chief executives say rising numbers of patients are stuck in hospitals in England due to a lack of care staff.
The situation is “dire”, according to NHS Providers, which represents health service trusts.
The government says extra funding and a regular recruitment drive will help boost the care workforce.
Care companies are facing acute problems in recruiting and retaining staff, according to a report which suggests there are now more unfilled care jobs than before the pandemic.
Jobs unfilled
The annual Skills for Care workforce report is based on data provided by a representative sample of employers of England’s 1.54 million care workers.
The researchers calculate that employers were failing to fill 8% of posts before the pandemic.
Figures obtained since suggest this had fallen to below 6% by June 2020 – but by August this year the trend had reversed with 8.2% of care sector roles unfilled.
This amounts to more than 100,000 posts with no-one to fill them, says Skills for Care.
To read the full story visit the BBC News website.
On 6 October 2021, the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson spoke at the Conservative Party Conference, acknowledging that the social care crisis and the unfairness in the way people with dementia are supported, compared to other health conditions.
Fiona Carragher, Director of Research and Influencing, responded to Johnson’s speech:
‘We’re pleased to hear the Prime Minister acknowledge the horrendous struggles people affected by dementia, the majority of those using social care, have battled with for far too long.
‘The pandemic has laid bare the urgent need for social care reform. We need to draw a line in the sand after the past 18 months, seeing the Government take urgent steps to shake up the system to provide the best quality care and support now and in years to come.
‘We look forward to seeing in more detail the investment and arrival of new technology to bring health and social care together, but this should be seen as a tool and not the solution.
Funding reforms are also a positive step forward, but we risk the system collapsing if we wait until this cash injection arrives in 2023.
‘We must see an absolute minimum of £3.9bn per year in the Comprehensive Spending Review and a clear timetable for delivery of long-term reform, so we aren’t letting down the 850,000 people with dementia and their families.’
Recent news headlines have reported dementia is the leading cause of death in the UK.
Dr Clare Walton from the Alzheimer’s Society research team looked at the reasons why deaths from dementia are on the rise and how the numbers compare with deaths due to other major diseases.
The latest death statistics for England and Wales, released by The Office for National Statistics (ONS), showed the number of people dying of dementia is steadily increasing year on year.
In contrast, the number of people dying from heart disease and stroke has been declining. In 2015, dementia overtook heart disease and stroke as the UK’s biggest cause of death. The percentage of all UK deaths from the top four leading causes in 2017 were dementia, heart disease, stroke and lung cancer.
