According to an article published in the Guardian on 23 February 2022, care providers have been hit by staff shortages, mandatory jab policies, and COVID-19 cases all of which have exacerbated the care crisis.
More than 1,600 care home beds have been lost in just a six month period, as staff shortages continue to worsen and the financial strain after two years of the COVID-19 pandemic causes a net loss of 134 care homes in England.
This net loss of care homes stems from care providers deregistering their services with the CQC rather than registering new services. Staff shortages almost doubled to 11% of the workforce from August 2021 to the end of January 2022 according to figures released on Wednesday 23 February 2022 by the CQC.
Three-quarters of care homes that responded to a survey also told the CQC that they have been unable to recruit staff. The biggest problem contributing to this was the mandatory COVID-19 vaccine policy, which was scrapped at the start of February 2022. The obligatory double vaccination requirement for social care staff was introduced on 11 November 2021 and about 40,000 staff left their jobs as a result. This sparked anger among many care home providers who said the care staff had been unfairly singled out in the vaccination mandate.
Two-fifths of care homes now believe a lack of staff is having a negative impact on care. CQC figures show that there was also a surge in incidents affecting the health, safety and welfare of residents in December 2021, which were attributed to staffing issues. The area with the biggest reduction in care home registrations was south-east England.
The crisis in staffing has been further compounded by COVID-19 outbreaks in care homes, which has forced organisations from admitting new residents. The knock on effect of this, is an increased pressure on homecare services who are also struggling with their own acute workforce crisis.
Vic Rayner, Chief Executive of the National Care Forum, which represents not-for-profit care operators, said the CQC figures had to be a wake-up call. She stated:
“We have been warning about this staffing shortage for months now and this data may be the tip of the iceberg. Our members have been telling us that it is proving harder and harder to recruit staff, which is exacerbating the workforce pressures. There is an urgent need to think strategically about the social care needed within communities, and to plan and resource the social care workforce in a way that ensures that people can exercise their right to high-quality social care when and where they need it.”
However, Kate Terroni, the CQC Chief Inspector of Adult Social Care, told the board in a recent CQC Board Meeting that after nearly 1,900 inspections since the start of December 2021, the area in need of most improvement was found to be infection control, and not staff shortages.
Furthermore, families of care home residents are also concerned that lateral flow tests for visitors to care homes will no longer be free of charge. The Rights for Resident’s Campaign Group described the change as an immoral ‘pay per view’ policy and are demanding reinstatement of the free tests.
CQC reported that it also investigated allegations of blanket visiting bans at 82 homes in recent months, in breach of government infection control guidelines.
