Care? Not this lot

LAST weekend I finally got round to watching Help, the care home drama which aired on Channel 4 last month.

Friends had told me how powerful it was and how brilliant Jodie Comer and Stephen Graham were as rookie staff member Sarah and her early-onset Alzheimer’s patient, Tony.

But, if I’m really honest, I didn’t fancy putting myself through the emotional wringer watching Sarah struggling through her hellish solo nightshift.

I’m so glad I did though.

Because Jodie’s harrowing, visceral performance opened my eyes to what care workers endured at the height of the Covid crisis.

Sarah, right, tried in vain to get someone to help her save dying pensioner Kenny.

And at one point she yelled down the phone to an emergency operator: “Care homes… they don’t matter any more, do they?! We’re not high priority.”

At times if felt like a dystopian nightmare.

But you knew it was pandemic reality – and that across the UK thousands of Sarahs had been left utterly wrung out as they cared for Tonys and Kennys.

Because care homes really don’t matter any more to a government that has far loftier priorities.

So now the entire system is on the brink of collapse, as shattered and demoralised staff quit for better-paid jobs in pubs or supermarkets.

This week the Care Quality Commission’s annual report warned that Britain’s elderly and disabled citizens face a “tsunami of unmet need” if the crisis is not resolved.

Staff vacancies have risen by 70 per cent in six months – and care homes find themselves unable to recruit with salaries averaging just £8.50 an hour.

The GMB Union predicts 170,000 jobs will be unfilled by the end of the year – and that’s before November’s vaccine deadline forces out more experienced carers because they aren’t double-jabbed.

The union wants a minimum £15 an hour, an end to zero-hours contracts and proper sick pay to stop the exodus and to stop the sector “imploding.”

But in response to the damning CQC report, the Government simply rushed out a £162.5million “workforce retention and recruitment fund” to pay overtime to already knackered carers and fund staff banks… which can’t get the staff.

“I thank care workers for their commitment and tireless efforts throughout the pandemic,” said Health Secretary Sajid Javid.

“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.”

CQC boss Ian Trenholm agrees that the entire healthcare system needs an overhaul.

But with winter fast approaching he warns that the “exhausted and depleted” staff “cannot be expected to work harder than they already are”.

“If we’re to get safely through this winter, there needs to be urgent action,” he says.

I hope the Prime Minister and Health Secretary will also get round to watching Jodie Comer in that powerful TV drama, as it might open their eyes too.

And make them realise that care workers struggling to hold back the tsunami are too wrung-out to put in any overtime or wait for ambitious reform.

They need help – and they need it now.