A new social care whitepaper has been published which sets out the “blueprint” for addressing the “severe challenges” faced by the sector.
Released yesterday (17th September 2024), the whitepaper has been published by homecare technology specialist Birdie and includes insights from social care leaders and experts from across the sector.
Entitled ‘Ready to Care: The First Steps to Fixing Social Care’, the social care whitepaper features seven key recommendations for reforming the sector which have been delivered to the government ahead of the Labour party conference and the Autumn budget.
The CEO and co-founder of Birdie, Max Parmentier, describes the recommendations as “low-cost, high-impact” solutions to fix social care which are built on a unified “village-of-care” model.
Parmentier co-authored the new social care whitepaper with Rachael Crook, CEO of provider Lifted. It is also supported by co-signatories such as Martin Jones, CEO of Home Instead and Darren Stapelberg, CEO of Grosvenor Health and Social Care, the second largest independent provider of domiciliary care in the UK. Additional contributors were drawn from other care providers, local authorities, NHS Trusts and policy organisation.
Seven recommendations from the social care whitepaper
The seven recommendations made in the whitepaper – some of which are designed to be implemented in the autumn budget and take effect before the end of 2024 – are meant to guide the focus and reforms needed in social care. They are:
- New legislation to amend the Health and Care Act 2022 and mandate that Director of Adult Social Care representatives are included on all NHS ICB boards across the UK. This would remove silos, improve coordination, reduce hospital admissions and streamline discharges.
- The delegation of healthcare tasks to trained care workers by NHS England for three acute conditions (UTI, pneumonia and cellulitis) and three chronic conditions (diabetes, dementia and hypertension). The whitepaper cites research that shows that an expansion of community care could have prevented 855,000 emergency admissions in 2019-20. It asserts that a delegation framework would help keep thousands of people out of hospital.
- A new national online support service to provide essential information and resources for unpaid carers. The service would also be able to identify previously unrecognised carers and collect data to inform future policy decisions. There are an estimated 5 million unpaid carers in the UK at present, with the care they provide valued at £162 billion – a figure which, the whitepaper points out, rivals the NHS budget.
- Initiatives to reduce the “hidden burden” of travel time for home care workers. According to the Home Care Association, home care workers often provide services across scattered areas and spend almost a fifth of their time travelling, with 75% lacking proper compensation for this. For many home care workers, long travel times lead to a reduction in their overall pay, as most local authorities only pay for a few minutes of travel time in between care visits. Despite home care workers making up 43% of the workforce, this is an often-overlooked issue in social care. The fix recommended by the whitepaper is neighbourhood-based models, implemented by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), with local authorities dividing regions to form consortiums, enabling service delivery to be streamlined and travel times to be significantly reduced. This, in turn, would enhance pay and improve staff retention.
- Rapid overhaul of the Care Quality Commission (CQC) using digital tools. The whitepaper suggests that the care watchdog could reform its care assessments by focusing on a few core quality indicators tracked in real-time, streamlining and shortening inspections and enabling mock evaluations.
- The integration of social care software with the NHS Capacity Tracker for real-time data-sharing between hospitals and care providers. The whitepaper suggests this will improve the patient discharge process as well as resource planning and collaboration between the NHS and social care.
- Establish a social care leadership development programme. The whitepaper says the DHSC could reallocate existing funding to provide start-up capital for a Teach First-style programme for social care leaders that would also be applicable to career changers and promising care workers in addition to graduates.
Social care whitepaper aims to fix disconnect with the NHS
.One of the key problems this new social care whitepaper aims to “fix” is the disconnect between the NHS and social care.
Birdie cites government statistics for April 2024 to highlight that this lack of integration between the health and care sectors contributes to 1.1 million “blocked beds” and 64% of medically fit patients having to wait for social care services.
In the wake of the Darzi report, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Wes Streeting, has spoken about a shift towards community services over hospital care.
But experts at Birdie believe that more can be done to better connect the NHS and social care. The whitepaper proposes a unified “village-of-care” model which integrates the health and social care sectors into a patient-centred system. This is in part relies on new legislation to ensure that Director of Adult Social Care leaders sit on NHS boards and to transfer more acute and chronic conditions to community care services.
Social care whitepaper highlights commitment of sector leaders
Max Parmentier, co-author of the Birdie social care whitepaper, said the sector is “one of the most important pillars of our society and economy.”
He explained:
“Although the sector has come a long way, we still face severe challenges, with over 400,000 people awaiting assessment to start being cared for and a significant funding gap to sustain the level of current care delivery in the community.
“The Darzi report highlights the role of social care in transforming our health and care system. Every day, I meet social care leaders expressing their deep commitment to improving our system – they’re ready to help.
“This whitepaper reflects their dedication, shaped by extensive input from sector leaders, and presents a range of low-cost, high-impact reforms that the new government can implement before the end of the year.
“We hope these recommendations will drive meaningful progress and result in visible changes in the autumn budget alongside Darzi report recommendations so we can ensure ongoing sector progress in the NHS and in social care.”
Co-author Rachael Crook added that social care leaders were “committed, resilient and passionate,” but faced the ongoing challenge of being forced to “do more with less.”
Quality training for social care
First Response Training (FRT) is a leading, national training provider.
They deliver over 6,000 courses each year in the fields of health and safety, first aid, fire safety, food safety, mental health, health and social care and other special focus topics.
Their diverse portfolio includes training awards designed for care workers, such as Infection Control and Prevention, Safeguarding Adults, Duty of Care, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, Person Centred Care and Support and many others.
Their course portfolio spans Care Certificate standards, mandatory training awards, clinical skills, special focus courses and higher level training for supervisors and managers.
A Trainer at FRT, says:
“We know that care workers do an incredible, invaluable job and that the sector faces a series a big challenges, which must be addressed. Hopefully this new social care whitepaper, the Darzi report and recent Workforce Strategy from Skills for Care offer a way forward and ensure that social care is prioritised.
“Alongside all other initiatives and reforms, good quality and regular staff training remains key to successful recruitment, retention and support of adult social care workers and will help create a resilient and effective workforce.”
For more information on the training provided by FRT, please call them on freephone 0800 310 2300 or send an e-mail to info@firstresponsetraining.com.