Ahead of the 2019 General Election set to take place on 12 December, Stephen Wilson, CEO and Co-Founder of Novacare comments on why we need to look beyond party manifestos of the UK’s main political parties and take a deeper look at some of the factors that are spiralling the UK’s care sector into crisis.
“Labour are promising free personal care for all older people, Conservatives pledge to bring forth substantial proposals to fix our social care crisis and the Liberal Democrats want to raise income tax by a further 1p on the £ from income tax (around £6b a year) and use to meet immediate priorities in social care, but none of this will make a genuine difference unless we address some of the fundamental issues that sit at the very heart of this industry.
“Creating a positive work place culture in the care sector is one of the first things that we need to address in order to achieve higher levels of employee satisfaction for social care providers across the UK that is sustainable. Each and every one of them deserves to feel happy and valued in their job.”
“Done correctly, care providers can then shift their focus from continual recruitment and retraining – a consequence of poor staff retention – and invest more on further personal and professional development for the employees – resulting in higher standards of care across their company, delivered by people who are wholly invested in their careers.”
The latest Skills for Care report (September 2019) estimates that the turnover rate of staff working in the adult social care sector, was 30.8% which equates to approximately 440,000 leavers in the previous 12 months.
Turnover rates varied between sector, service and job role, however turnover rate was higher for domiciliary care providers than other service types, with a third of all staff leaving their roles within the past 12 months (33.8%). This was highest for care workers, with a turnover rate of 43.7%.
Novacare, the leading service and solution provider for the care industry, has launched a project to support the care industry with the recruitment and retention of staff. The overall aim of the project, which has been approved for funding through Scottish Enterprise, is to identify and address workforce issues in light of the turbulent political climate. The consulting program has been built specifically for the social care sector as a direct response to industry demand.
Novacare was founded by care industry experts with the aim of tackling some of the largest issues within health and social care. Ranging from consulting to software development, their solutions are tailor-made specifically for the needs of the care sector. For more information about Novacare visit nova-care.uk
Stephen Wilson is available to comment further on ways in which a positive careers culture can facilitate higher recruitment and retention rates across the care sector.
