Social care Staff shortages ‘now at worst sector has ever seen’

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, he said.

“It’s really hit us in social care over the last two months,” Mr Beet told Bristol’s health leaders on October 20.

“We now find ourselves in the worst place we’ve ever been in terms of numbers of vacancies,” he told the city’s health and wellbeing board.

“It’s a big challenge going into winter, 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.”

Mr Beet said vacancy rates in the social care sector climbed from around seven to about 10 per cent after lockdown.

“The end of lockdown means 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 said 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, the spokesperson said.

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

And care homes 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 10 per cent of that workforce still not being vaccinated,” Mr Beet said.

“So we will be losing staff in the care home sector. We’re monitoring that really closely in Bristol.”