Social care crisis in Bristol set to deepen

Staff shortages in social care are the worst they have ever been and the crisis is set to deepen as we head into winter, according to a top Bristol official.

Head of adult social care at Bristol City Council Stephen Beet said some care homes and home care providers were struggling to provide care as the sector competes with the likes of Amazon for workers.

And care homes are expected to lose even more staff when new rules requiring them to be vaccinated against Covid-19 come into effect next month.

“It’s really hit us in social care over the last two months, quite suddenly actually,” Beet told Bristol’s health and wellbeing board.

“We now find ourselves in the worst place we’ve ever been in terms of numbers of vacancies.

“It’s a big challenge going into winter and it’s not all going to sort itself out in the next few weeks, especially when we know that there’s an increase in Covid cases. But we’re working really closely with the [adult social care] sector to support them.”

Staff shortages in social care are the “worst they have ever been”, according to a top Bristol official – photo by Martin Booth

Beet said vacancy rates in the social care sector climbed from around seven to about ten per cent after lockdown, as jobs with better pay and less stress became available.

“The end of lockdown means that other services are offering work, so we’ve got much greater competition from places like Amazon and big supermarkets where pay is better, or there’s greater incentive,” he said.

“Brexit’s another factor. And generally just poor pay and lack of development opportunities perceived in the care sector that’s not drawing people into it. And it’s hard work. These are tough jobs.

“We’ve had in Bristol a number of home care providers handing back packages [of care]. We’ve had packages that we’ve not been able to source, and that’s across home care and other settings, in community-based organisations, some care homes as well.”

A council spokesperson explained after the meeting that a shortage of care assistants had meant some home care providers were unable to complete their rounds until they pooled their resources to fill the gaps. A recruitment drive is about to get underway to find more care assistants.

Meanwhile, the demand for home care is growing as more people become increasingly immobile as they wait for hip and knee replacements, Beet said.

In what has become a vicious cycle, they sit on long waiting lists for elective surgery while those lucky enough to have had their operations wait in hospital for a home care package to become available so they can be discharged, freeing up a hospital bed for the next person on the waiting list.

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As for care homes, they are set to lose more staff when new government regulations requiring care home workers to be double jabbed against Covid take effect on November 11.

“It varies between five to ten per cent of that workforce still not being vaccinated,” Beet said. “So we will be losing staff in the care home sector. We’re monitoring that really closely in Bristol.”

The Department of Health and Social Care has estimated that its mandatory vaccination policy could result in the loss of anywhere between 17,000 and 70,000 staff from the roughly 570,000 working in care homes registered with the Care Quality Commission.

Beet said the council was doing what it could in the short-term to help the adult social care sector with recruitment and retention, but that, long-term, a “reimagining” of the care model was needed.

“We need to think differently because we’re not going to get the workforce we need to meet the current demands that we have,” he said.

Cabinet member for adult social care Helen Holland, who chairs the cross-sector, multi-agency, health and wellbeing board, said: “If this doesn’t make the case for why we need to concentrate more on the prevention end [of care]…then I don’t know what does.

“Terms and conditions are improving for people [in the health and social care employment sector] and they should, because if us clapping for carers means anything then we’ve got to translate it into real action.”

Amanda Cameron is a local democracy reporter for Bristol

Main photo by WorldSkills UK (via Flickr)

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