Covid-19
Lessons learnt
Examples of this collaboration with the NHS within Surrey have seen the Surrey Care Association (SCA) being included on local resilience forum calls, which focused on testing, PPE, deliveries and, lately, antibody testing and flu vaccinations. We have been regarded as a central component in the battle against coronavirus, which is again something that has served to enhance our standing and boost morale across the sector.
For us as an association in particular, it has been great to see our value as a communication hub for care providers being recognised – an area in which we have received a great deal of praise and thanks. Throughout the pandemic, there has been masses of guidance coming down from central government and we have helped to decipher and disseminate this, working hard to keep providers informed.
That has seen us effectively acting as a helpline for any queries or concerns
while also doing our bit to highlight any potential issues. Our voice at the SCA is being heard, which in turn is allowing us to fight the corner for all who work in social care – within Surrey and beyond. During the pandemic, we have formed relationships and won many friends across the community –
including those at a senior level - that have provided us with the means to raise issues directly with those who can influence them. We very much hope that these relationships will continue beyond the initial requirements of Covid, helping us to continue championing social care needs – more on which I will mention later. Our relationship with our local authority has grown too, albeit with some unresolved issues, such as the unrealistic costs of care. Despite these issues, however, our communication is more open and this has resulted in a new piece of work, looking at the market impact of Covid and looking beyond this to the lessons learned – both those in the past tense and those that are ongoing.
With the good human interest stories of recent months - along with the implication of large-scale redundancies given economic uncertainties – there has never been a better time to entice people to work in our industry
January 2021 •
www.thecarehomeenvironment.com
Recruitment is the key An element of care that has been very much in the spotlight is our staff and staffing. While the clap for carers was wonderful, going forward we need society to value them more for their skills and the invaluable care they provide for our loved ones – whether that is in a care setting or via domiciliary care. We know the value of our staff, but we hope the public will now appreciate them properly going forward. As part of this, we also need that recognition to translate into better pay rates, terms and conditions more akin to those experienced by public sector services. Given the wave of goodwill,
recruitment is also now key, especially so given the changes to EU employment rules. With the spotlight on care, we need to demonstrate the rewards of a career in the sector. Here at the SCA, we have been supported by our local authority in setting up a recruitment portal called Proud to Care Surrey.
With the good human interest stories of recent months - along with the implication of large-scale redundancies given economic uncertainties – there has never been a better time to entice people to work in our industry. Part of the recruitment picture centres on improving awareness of what care covers. One of the things that, as a sector, we have long seen is a lack of understanding as to what we offer. Even the NHS, which operates alongside social care, has often failed to grasp there is more to social care services than looking after
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