Social care workers who work in England have had to turn away so many people so that they can provide support to others. They are also helping to survey new service managers as well. The National Care Forum is now being done in partnership with the famous Outstanding Managers Network. They polled around 340 registered managers and they did this to try and support care homes and even domiciliary care services. This is going to be done to try and support adults and the workforce challenges that they are going to face as the pandemic continues to press on. If you work in homecare or if you work in the industry of private nursing, you will know how much pressure the industry has been under. Of course, it is also going to impact social workers too.
67% of the managers who were polled stated that they had to take extreme measures to try and respond to staff shortages and this included stopping new admissions and even care packages. One third of the respondents stated that they had to stop or even cap admissions that came from hospitals, and finally, 35% of people said the same for the community in general. 25% said that they have had to stop accepting domiciliary care packages from authorities as well. This is not good to say the least but at the end of the day, it just goes to show how important it is for people to be supported during staff challenges. Turned down and complex care requests are unfortunately not being supported enough and staff are not able to do their jobs properly as a result. Who knows what the future holds, but right now, things are looking uncertain and the surveys are hoping to shed some light on the underlying problems in general.
A new framework has just been launched in Wales to try and give people the chance to take a more consistent approach when it comes to the development of GP nurses in the country. Those who are behind the blueprint have stated that they want to inspire and then encourage nurses to expand and then enhance the career opportunities that are available. They are doing this to try and expand primary care if possible. The voluntary education and of course, practice standards have been commissioned by the HEIW and it includes various competencies for GPNS that are banded between 5 and 7. Those who work in private nursing and those who are social workers are going to benefit from this, and so are those who work in homecare too.
Information has been provided within the framework and this is applicable to every registered nurse. On top of this, employers in general practice as well as those who work in primary care are of course, going to benefit. The document has flagged that there is no framework or standards for nursing in Wales right now. This is even with the key role of GPN and primary care. Lisa Llewelyn who is the director of professional education has said that she is delighted about launching the document. This is nationally agreed, and it is going to deliver both clear and consistent standards overall. Skills are going to be enhanced and nurses are going to have their roles developed as well. This will help them to meet the care and the support standards that people tend to register with practices from all across Wales. The move has been recognised and now more and more people are trying to work closer to home. The document is inspiring and encouraging people and this is great to say the least.
The NHS in England have announced that they have now started an annual recruitment drive. This is set to feature a lot of testimonials from real nurses and they have also been asked to talk about their experiences as they have worked on the front line. The campaign is called We Are the NHS and it is entering its fourth year. They are trying to shed some light on the opportunities that are available in homecare, as well as private nursing and even for social workers. The NHS England have claimed that the initiative normally includes advertisements on the television as well as on the radio and on billboards. This is helping to boost the nursing applications by around 8,000 on average. Of course, even though things have risen, it’s important to know that the latest data is showing that they are short of thousands of nurses. They have also found that there are thousands of vacant posts and that this is not good to say the least. The NHS England have said that the campaign is going to see nurses and allied health professionals share their experiences while also saying about how they feel about working on the front line. You have Craig Royce who is taking part in the campaign as well. He is a qualified nurse, and he came into the profession as a very mature student. He said that he is from the northeast originally and he once worked in retail. He decided to make a change and he decided that now would be the time for him to pursue a career in trying to help people. He said that he has dyslexia, and he was never keen on education, but the training for this job is proving to be rewarding and suited to him.
Sajid Javid has been urged yet again to act now about the staffing crisis that is happening. The adult social care sector is facing a lot of difficulties right now and if something is not done soon, then it could end up spiralling out of control. Mr. Javid has stated that he has received a huge amount of letters from the unison and social care organisation and that the workforce challenges that are being faced now are not good to say the least. The whole sector is being gripped by the staffing crisis and the magnitude is threatening to overwhelm the whole sector. Chronic underfunding is leading to issues such as low wages and even staff burnout. Mandatory vaccinations are amongst the factors that are to blame right now for this recruitment emergency. There is also an issue with retention as well and this is not good to say the least. The two organisations that are behind the letter have said that they are receiving reports every day from the members and that the serious shortages are now playing a huge role in terms of how things are going right now.
If you work in homecare or if you are seeking a career in private nursing then you will know what a big deal this is. It is also a big deal for social workers because more needs to be done to try and make sure that this does not bring about further issues in the future. Reports have also been released and they show that the amount of people who work in health and social care have declined yet again by 33%. This is a huge decrease since the year 2012 and this not good to say the least.
