Making a career in care an attractive and sustainable option and embracing the power of technology are at the heart of stemming the workforce crisis and ensuring care provision can accommodate growing demand on resources, a leading expert in social care has said.
Professor Martin Green, chief executive of Care England, said social care is facing the “perfect storm” of a workforce crisis and soaring demand for support – and with at least 154,000 vacancies and staff turnover of up to 30 per cent, the need for action only becomes more urgent.
And making the sector a more appealing career choice for potential employees, with appropriate training and development opportunities, is crucial in creating a future workforce, said Prof Green.
Exploiting the potential of technology to support care professionals in their work is also essential, to help futureproof the care sector for the years ahead, he added.
Speaking at the Care Crisis conference, hosted by Slater and Gordon in Newcastle, Prof Green also highlighted the importance of change being led from within the sector itself, having seen no meaningful Government-led change for decades.
“It is a tough road, but we have many brilliant people and like-minded people working in care, who can come together as a coalition and who are willing to start the change,” said Prof Green.
“Every Prime Minister since Tony Blair has promised to address this issue, and every one has failed. Successive Governments have failed to tackle this.
“Politicians don’t deal with this in a proactive way – so we need to take the agenda into our own hands.
“If we look to politics to deliver the outcome we want and need, we are going to be sorely disappointed.”
Workforce development and retention
With recruitment and retention challenges in both the NHS and social care, healthcare is a particularly challenging area in adding and keeping good people.
And with social care accounting for the biggest proportion of that workforce – 1.4million to the NHS’s 1.2million – and those working within it responsible for the long-term provision of people’s care and independence, the current levels of vacancy cannot be sustained.
Prof Green believes the lack of staff is now severely impacting on people’s care, as well as those tasked with delivering it.
“This workforce pressure means that people do not get the services until there is a critical need,” he said.
“It is starting to impact on how people access services. There is a lot of unmet need, with high levels of people not receiving the services they need.
“But this situation takes its toll on professionals, who are constantly under pressure. They don’t have time for reflection, don’t have time to take a step back and look at each individual challenge. We don’t have the time to celebrate when we’ve done things well, because there is some brilliant practice being seen.
“And against the backdrop of the population demographic meaning there is more need coming on the horizon, it is time for a complete rethink about the future.”
At the root of this, believes Prof Green, is making social care appealing as a career choice – a well-documented issue the sector currently faces.
“We need to start to do things differently and make social care an attractive destination as a career. People see it as a job – but in fact it is a very specialist career,” he said.
“We need really clear career paths and skills development, with respected and recognised portable qualifications.
“For most people, progression and getting more money means getting further away from frontline practice – but there are some people who are brilliant with face to face work, and we need to find ways of career paths for them.”
Addressing the issue of the costs involved, and arguments that a lack of budget will hamper this, Prof Green said: “We can afford it and need to make it a priority. If we can get the social care and MDT approach right, we might be able to stop people going into crisis.
“We need to recognise the need to invest money in more appropriate ways.
“The NHS spends £100,000 a minute on training. We need to see equity across the system. We are doing a disservice to invest in one part of the system and not another.”
Training is a topic which is vital to this, adds Prof Green.
“We have tended to look at focusing training on specific things, but what we need to deliver to people is a life,” he said.
“Case management is very holistic and starts with a premise of saying ‘What can I do that enables a person to live their best life?’ We need a similar approach in many other areas of training and development.
“We need to shift the focus from processes to think of the person’s need and their outcomes.”
While such seismic change for the sector will no doubt take years, Prof Green says the time to start is now.
“I recognise getting the oil tanker to turn is a big job, but we need to start where we are at and work from there. It will take time, but we need to start.”
The role of technology
While technology is used much more widely within healthcare than ever before – with the COVID-19 pandemic helping to accelerate adoption – it still remains unknown and often a thing of fear for many care professionals.
But investing and adopting technology is absolutely critical to the future of care, says Prof Green, and can support those working in the sector in doing their jobs.
“Technology is going to very important for the future in improving service and efficiency,” he said.
“When we talk about technology, we should look at how using more or less technology benefits the person using the service. In many instances, it can enhance a person’s experience of care, in a way that also assists the service when we don’t have enough people to do what is needed.
“It can be the very simple things, and I saw in a pilot how they can make a difference. We launched Amazon Alexa for care homes, and one lady spoke of how she used to constantly drop the TV remote and the channel would change. She would buzz someone to come and help, but then half the programme was gone.
“She used to push the button to ask for a cup of tea. Now she says ‘Alexa, I want a cup of tea’ and that is conveyed. Her Alexa connects her to her friend along the corridor, she can ask her if she’s going down for breakfast at 8am. It has been transformational for her.”
With the world becoming so much more technology-centred, Prof Green believes the sector must keep pace with that.
“Technology is the real driver of the future, and we need to make sure we are in control of it,” he said.
“With what is happening in AI and robotics, the whole landscape is going to change. It is going to be mind blowing.”
