MENTAL HEALTH
VCOD regulations came in for them gave the impression of social care staff not being as valued as health care staff.
‘PEOPLE AT THE HEART OF CARE’ – WILL IT
MAKE A DIFFERENCE? The government published its adult social care system reform white paper, People at the Heart of Care on 1 December 2021. It sets out a ten-year vision for social care in England. The white paper recommendations are positive and ambitious. Will the recommendations come to fruition? Well, there is some scepticism.
In August 2020 David Pearson published his Social Care Sector Taskforce report. In it, he recommends kick-starting long-term changes. He proposes improving the resilience of the workforce. He suggests investing in occupational health, recruitment, retention and pay. Nearly two years on, there has been little change. It is disappointing. Will the same fate await the good intentions set out in the government’s latest white paper? Time will tell.
Of course, it is preferable to have improvement measures for social care in place rather than kicking the issues into the long grass, but social care workers must see tangible differences to experience an alleviation of the problems.
Recognising the staff through pay and reward is key here. Being able to pay staff for the level of skill and expertise and responsibility they demonstrate every day is essential for better economic and mental wellbeing. There are also other areas to focus on to ease some of the mental health issues in care. These include occupational health and an integrated approach to health and care workforces.
“Being able to pay staff for the level of skill and expertise and responsibility they demonstrate every day is essential for better economic and mental wellbeing.”
Increased mental health issues and burnout amongst social care staff in a post-pandemic world is not a coincidence. It is a consequence of the lack of a systemic occupational health provision. Some larger employers do have occupational health schemes to offer support, but if you work for a much smaller organisation, such provisions are not available. All care staff experience pressures on mental health, so it is only logical to offer an occupational health scheme for all. It would express care for valued staff and a desire to keep the expertise and skills that they provide.
There is limited integration across health and social care. There is no ‘social care people plan’. This long-term problem requires a joined social care and healthcare workforce. You may have heard about integrated care systems coming. You
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may have read the integration white paper, which had warm words about staff planning. But it lacked any requirements to supply an integrated workforce plan. Without a joined-up approach to long-term workforce planning, it feels like we will continue to lurch from one workforce crisis to another.
There are issues associated with underfunding, limited integration across health and social care, plus a lack of wider recognition and value of the contribution of the social care sector. The pandemic has magnified these long-standing issues. It should prompt the government and society to address these problems.
The proportion of the NI levy being spent to support social care reform must increase – we need at least half of the £36bn if we are to tackle the problem of low pay and workforce pressures, offer decent career pathways, improve the mental health of our workforce and inspire the next generation of desperately needed care and support workers.
www.nationalcareforum.org.uk
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