The social care sector is facing a crisis in staffing, with an estimated 105,000 vacancies, according to the 2021 State of the Adult Social Care Sector and Workforce report by Skills for Care, and with the possibility of this rising sharply as the requirement to be double vaccinated to work in a care home comes into place in early November.
The staffing crisis means care homes are having to refuse to take new arrivals discharged from hospital and companies that provide care within the home are handing back contracts as they no longer have sufficient staff.
The knock-on effect of this is that the NHS will really struggle to make any inroads on the record 5.74 million waiting list, particularly as winter bites with its associated increase in patients.
Full story in The Lowdown, 18 October 2021