CARE STAFFING CRISIS HITS FRAIL RESIDENTS

23 OAPs had to move out as temp hunt unsuccessful

A CARE home was forced to move its frailest residents to alternative sites after being struck by the social care staffing crisis.

Bosses at St Catherine’s, near York, had just days to relocate 23 elderly residents after a desperate hunt for workers proved fruitless.

It came as care chiefs last night warned the sector faces the worst workforce crisis “in living memory”.

There are 120,000 vacancies in social care – a figure set to soar when an estimated 42,000 unvaccinated workers leave next month under the Government’s “no jab, no job” rule.

Baroness Altmann will tell the House of Lords tomorrow that making doublevaccination mandatory for care home workers risks OAPs’ lives.

The former pensions minister said: “Care workers aren’t lying around somewhere at the back of a closet.”

Providers say the shortage is being made worse by staff finding better pay and less stress in retail and hospitality.

Managers at St Catherine’s say they called around 40 nurse agencies in vain.

When none were available, home owner Wellburn Care said it had to act “swiftly” to move residents out. Susan

McKinney, the firm’s operations director, said: “In 25 years this is the worst I’ve ever seen staffing.

“There are dedicated, talented carers leaving, who have worked in industry for a long time. They just can’t do it any more and there are other, easier options on the table . They can take up a new job with no real pressure for, if not the same money, more money.”

Waiting lists for care, meanwhile, have surged to 300,000 people – a rise of 26% in three months. Experts forecast up to 627,000 extra social care staff – a 53% jump – will be needed by 2030.

Desperate providers are now offering signing-on bonuses to new staff.

But, as one industry boss put it, they “can’t possibly compete with Amazon or national supermarkets”.

Barrock Court Care Home, near Carlisle, Cumbria, had to close its doors this month after attempts to recruit new employees failed.

Julia Jones, co-founder of dementia charity John’s Campaign, says other short-staffed homes are leaving residents in bed and cancelling planned activities. She said: “This tends to mean no visits at weekends, for instance – which are too often the loneliest and most boring and least well-staffed

times in a care home resident’s life.”

Helen Wildbore, director of charity the Relatives and Residents Association, said: “Unlike the fuel crisis, which we are all feeling directly, the crisis in social care is behind closed doors. We need an urgent plan from the Government.”

The Department of Health and Social Care said: “We are providing at least £500million to support the care workforce as part of the £5.4billion to reform social care.”

Families are really terrified about the impact CHARITY CHIEF ON STAFFING SHORTFALLS

PAY CRISIS Susan McKinney