At the height of the pandemic, there were times when our care workers were actually serenaded on their journey to and from service users’ homes to celebrate the valuable, essential work they were doing in order to protect our elderly and vulnerable service users. Every Thursday evening, we received a massive influx of pictures and messages from neighbours, friends and strangers thanking the care workers for their contribution during the weekly ‘Clap for Carers’.

Our Barrier Teams, who care for service users with COVID and support them to recover in their own homes, are made up predominantly from overseas workers. This essential service kept our hospitals in Hertfordshire flowing by making space for the deluge of patients being admitted to hospital with COVID. Our overseas care workers contributed massively to stop the NHS from being overwhelmed.

The government have overlooked these essential social care workers in their policy to extend oversees health professionals’ visas. Despite all that was said at the time, it seems we have returned to the previous policy, which was to separate the NHS workforce from the undervalued social care workforce. Why is our work force treated as expendable?

To read the full story visit the homecare.co.uk website.

Care England has called for a move away from a “crisis orientated system” to one which “maintains choice, autonomy and control” to resolve long-standing issues in the adult social care market as a result of Covid-19.

In its submission to the Public Accounts Committee, Care England stated funds and commissioning models had not been capable of responding to a new reality caused by Covid-19.

It said ‘a commissioning system needs to be created to be responsive to the needs of the sector, both in terms of continuing healthcare and local authority funded rates’.

Professor Martin Green, chief executive of Care England, said: “With the Public Accounts Committee’s great standing and reputation for holding bodies to account, we hope this inquiry will encourage a change in commissioning processes in order to support provider sustainability.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has accentuated the importance of creating markets that support rather than undermine the adult social care sector’s development.

“We need a new vision for adult social care, one that focuses on moving from a crisis orientated system to one that is asset-based and maintains choice, autonomy and control for people as much as possible. It must also deliver services that are connected to the heart of local communities.”

The adult social care markets inquiry will examine:

• how adult social care is currently provided and structured

• DHSC’s effectiveness in overseeing the market and holding providers to account; and its understanding of future demand, costs and alternative delivery models

• the impact of COVID-19 on the market and the sector’s financial sustainability

“For too long, adult social care commissioning has, in many parts of England, served to merely undermine provider sustainability,” added Professor Green.

The Public Accounts Committee will question Chris Wormald and Michelle Dyson from the DHSC and Ian Trenholm, chief executive of the Care Quality Commission.

The adult social care markets virtual meeting is available for the public to watch on 19 April at 2:30 pm.

For more information, go to https://committees.parliament.uk/event/4088/formal-meeting-oral-evidence-session/

This news was provided by homecare.co.uk