CARE HOME CRISIS LAID BARE BY WATCHDOG
With staff shortages worsening, patients left stuck in hospitals and NHS struggling to cope...
CARE homes are closing due to an exodus of staff – leaving NHS hospitals to pick up the pieces, a major report has warned.
Today’s annual report by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) paints a bleak picture of a healthcare system on the brink of collapse heading into ‘the most challenging of winters’.
The watchdog warned of ‘unacceptably’ long waits in ambulances and at A&E units, adding that many NHS services were already ‘at or beyond capacity’.
It found social care staff are increasingly leaving to take up better-paid jobs in supermarkets, retail or hospitality.
One in ten essential jobs in care homes is now vacant, nearly twice the level of six months ago.
The CQC said the exodus is likely to accelerate as travel and hospitality speed up recruitment.
Some nursing homes are having to shut because their ‘attempts at recruitment have failed’, making it ‘untenable to continue providing care’.
There are fears that more homes could be forced to close when a rule requiring care staff to be double-jabbed against Covid comes into force on November 11, potentially leaving more than 40,000 frontline carers redundant.
CQC chief executive Ian Trenholm said the ‘serious and deteriorating’ care staffing crisis will have knock-on effects for hospitals and GPs.
Patients who could be cared for in the community are ending up stuck in hospital, which charities said is ‘deeply ominous for the NHS’ as Covid cases surge.
CQC inspectors raised concerns about ‘unacceptable’ waits in A&E, noting that half of emergency departments were already having to hold patients outside in ambulances every day.
Last night doctors at Wrexham Maelor Hospital in North Wales claimed it is so short-staffed that it’s ‘teetering on a knifeedge’
‘Two resignations from collapse’
and just ‘two resignations from collapse’. Meanwhile, the Royal Cornwall Hospital Trust declared a critical incident last night and said it is experiencing ‘unprecedented demand... more so this week than at any point during the pandemic’.
The CQC report, based on inspections of more than 32,000 services and providers, looked at all aspects of healthcare.
Mr Trenholm said: ‘If nothing changes social care will continue to lose staff to other sectors, outside of health and social care. The impact of that will ripple right across the wider system, and those ripples will build and become a tsunami of unmet need across all sectors.’
The report called for ‘sharp focus on developing a clearly defined career pathway for social care staff’, including better training and higher pay.
Responding to the findings, Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation said: ‘Social care staff, including nurses, are leaving in their droves which presents a real risk to the continuation of services.’
Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK, said the report had highlighted the ‘gradual disintegration’ of the social care system, with providers forced to ‘mothball’ care.
She said: ‘Older people are getting stuck in hospital again when they are medically fit to be discharged, simply because there is not enough care to support them when they get home.
‘This is deeply ominous for the NHS, with the worst of winter yet to come, as well as miserable and counterproductive for any older person concerned.’
Gavin Terry, head of policy at Alzheimer’s Society, said: ‘The rising numbers of people seeking emergency care tallies with what we know from our own research – people with dementia are being rushed to hospital with problems like infections, falls and dehydration that quality social care support could have prevented.’
Rachel Harrison, from the GMB Union, called for a minimum pay of £15 an hour for care workers, adding: ‘The care sector is past a crisis – it’s on the verge of collapse. We face 170,000 vacancies by the end of the year and that’s before November’s cliff-edge vaccine deadline forces more career carers out of the door.’
The Department of Health last night announced a new £162.5million workforce retention and recruitment fund to bolster the care workforce. The ring-fenced funding, available until the end of March, will support local authorities working with providers to recruit staff.
It will also be available to help retain the existing workforce through overtime payments.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid said: ‘I want to thank care workers for their commitment and tireless efforts throughout the Covid19 pandemic – we owe them a debt of gratitude which I am determined to repay through ambitious, sustainable social care reform that prioritises their skills and wellbeing.