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Sepsis Awareness Webinar – 16 September

September is Sepsis Awareness Month, with World Sepsis Day on 13th September

Scottish Care is proud to be supporting Sepsis Awareness Month and World Sepsis Day. We are delighted to invite Colin Graham, the Chief Operating Officer from Sepsis Research to join us for a webinar on Thursday 16th September at 2:00 pm.

We encourage members to join this webinar to find out more and raise awareness about sepsis.  Details to join this webinar are available on the Members Area of this website.

Sepsis is a life-threatening reaction to an infection that accounts for around 50,000 deaths in the UK annually, more than bowel and breast cancer combined.

Sepsis can kill a previously healthy person in hours – taking the lives of five people on average in the UK every hour. It can strike anyone without warning, it’s very important that people know the symptoms and seek urgent medical help if they suspect sepsis.

 

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National Care Service Consultation – Partners for Integration Roadshows

During our Partners for Integration Roadshows, we will have a session on the National Care Service with colleagues from the Scottish Government.

The purpose of these sessions is to allow the Scottish Government to gather feedback from attendees on the creation of the National Care Service.

Find out more about the Scottish Government’s National Care Service Consultation here.

Find out more about the Partners for Integration Roadshows here.

Documents relating to these consultation exercises are available via the buttons below.

National Care Service - Summaries of Sections
National Care Service - Q and A
National Care Service - Media Pack

Scottish Care will also be holding events with both care home and care at home members on this. Find out more here.

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Media release: Social Care Workforce Recruitment & Retention

Scottish Care research highlights concern over social care workforce recruitment and retention

Scottish Care issued a Workforce Recruitment and Retention Survey between July and August 2021 to better understand the challenges facing the social care sector. 251 providers and organisations from the private, third and voluntary sectors responded. Some of most significant findings as areas for immediate action are summarised below:

Worryingly, almost 90%  of respondents stated recruitment and retention was problematic for them.

– Ongoing recruitment is a massive cost to the sector as providers are advertising for openings on a rolling basis. This is unsustainable. More than a third of respondents recruit weekly, while an additional third stated that they recruit as needed – this was stated to be daily. Figures were higher in Care at Home and Housing Support services (almost 75% recruit on a daily and weekly basis), but the problem is overall significant across the sector.

– When asking what routes work best to recruit, the overall consensus was ‘word of mouth’ (52.8%), however comments state that despite using many options including recruitment websites, that none are really working well.

– There is a concerningly high non-attendance rate of those invited to interview, almost 40% of those invited to interview simply do not show, causing a huge drain on our social care sector.

– Almost a quarter of staff leave within the first 3 months of joining an organisation.

– This drop-off rate is slightly higher in the care at home and housing support sector, suggesting greater work is needed to support individuals coming into the sector. Low attrition rates has significant impact on organisations, with almost 70% of organisations stating there is impact and 73.8% when looking specifically at CAH + HS providers.

– The number of hours that people are working are markedly high at the moment, however there is increasing pressure on staff to maintain the same quality of care while working longer hours. Almost 50% of organisations told us that their staff are working more than 35 hours per week.

– There are currently high sickness and absence levels at the moment in the sector. The reasons for this are mixed with reasons cited including anxiety/depression, stress, exhaustion, family related (including childcare). This has had some degree of impact, felt by almost ¾ of providers. In reality, over 40% of providers report sickness levels being higher than the pre-pandemic average, and the sickness absence level known is estimated to sit at 16% nationally, based on reports from providers.

– Significantly, when asked whether providers felt confident they could continue the same level of care over the next 12 months if nothing were to change, there was little consensus: 44.2% said they would not be able to sustain current levels of care, 22.7% were neutral and 33.2% agreed.

These findings are alarming and must be addressed imminently, not least through valuing the critical role which our skilled social care staff play in supporting the people of Scotland to stay safe and well. It is a highly critical role to the functioning of our society and urgent work must be done both to improve pathways into the sector and to implement the findings of the Fair Work Commission and encourage staff retention.

A fuller summary of the findings will be published next week, and an in-depth report on the current state of the workforce will be released ahead of the National Care Service consultation.

If you have any questions, please reach out to [email protected]

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Partners for Integration Roadshows – Reform Following the Storm

We are delighted to invite you to our Partners for Integration (PfI) Roadshows which will take place virtually in September and October.

The event titled ‘Reform Following the Storm’ will reflect on the work of the PfI Team over the pandemic and discuss how to move forward for the future.

The invite and event programme is available below:

Save the date invitation
Event programme

Overall, there are four roadshows on the dates below for the following areas. If you are interested in attending, please email [email protected].

Monday 6th September 13:00-16:00 Thursday 9th September 13:00-16:00
Glasgow (ISL)

North Ayrshire (ISL)

North Lanarkshire (ISL)

Renfrewshire (ISL)

South Ayrshire (ISL)

East Ayrshire (ISL)

South Lanarkshire (ISL)

West Dunbartonshire (ISL)

East Dunbartonshire

Inverclyde

East Renfrewshire

 Edinburgh (ISL)

Dumfries and Galloway (ISL)

Scottish Borders (ISL)

West Lothian (ISL)

East Lothian

Midlothian

 
Tuesday 12th October 13:00-16:00 Thursday 14th October 13:00-16:00
Angus (ISL)

Perth and Kinross (ISL)

Dundee City (ISL)

Falkirk (ISL)

Fife (ISL)

Clackmannanshire and Stirling

 

 

 Argyll and Bute (ISL)

Highland (ISL)

Aberdeenshire

Aberdeen City

Moray

Orkney

Shetland

Western Isles
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Scottish Care Annual Report 20/21

Our Annual Report for 2020 – 2021 was published at today’s AGM (12 August).

We are pleased to share this Annual Report and encourage you to give it a read. This report reflects and evidences the work and efforts of the Scottish Care team over the past year, during what has been a challenging time for the social care sector.

This report is divided into two different sections:

The ‘Activities and Achievements‘ section provides a business overview of Scottish Care: our aim and objectives, strategic priorities, and additional workstreams. It also covers what we have achieved over the past year, outlining the activities of our strategic priorities and workstreams.

The ‘Finance and Governance‘ section gives detailed reporting of our financial performance and outlines our approach to overall governance via the Executive Committee and other representative groups.

You can access the two sections of the Annual Report using the buttons below.

Thank you and we hope you enjoy reading the report.

Scottish Care

Annual Report 20/21 - Activities & Achievements
Annual Report 20/21 - Finance & Governance
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Job opportunity – Technology and Digital Innovation Lead

SCOTTISH CARE REQUIRES A TECHNOLOGY AND DIGITAL INNOVATION LEAD

Are you excited about the potential of technology to help people live their lives to the fullest? Do you consider it is important to use technology within a human rights and ethical framework? Are you excellent at inspiring individuals and creating enthusiasm?  Then this may be a great role for you.

An exciting opportunity has arisen within Scottish Care for a Technology and Digital Innovation Lead to join the national Scottish Care team. This full-time post is initially for a period of 24 months with a possible extension beyond this. The post is remunerated at £45,000 per annum plus agreed expenses.

Scottish Care is funding this post as a result of funding from the Scottish Government Technology Enabled Care Programme.  

Applicants should ideally be qualified to degree level or equivalent and have experience of working in the technology and digital sector. Current knowledge of the social care sector in Scotland, and an ability to engage and innovate the positive use of technology to enable the delivery of a rights-based approach to support and care are desirable.

The consultant will operate at a national strategic level; create significant collaborations for and with independent care sector organisations; contribute to national policy groups and consultations specifically on technology, data and digital; organise and deliver national events and work across the sector nationally.  

The role requires skilful collaboration with key partners in the Scottish Government, statutory health and care services, regulatory bodies, user and representative bodies as well as the wider technology and digital community in Scotland and elsewhere.

Come and join the independent care sector where there is already remarkable innovative use of technology that makes a difference

The contract offers a flexible, home-based option and the post-holder will report to the Scottish Care Chief Executive, Dr Donald Macaskill.

Application forms

An Application Form and Equal Opportunities Monitoring Form is available at www.scottishcare.org  and by email from [email protected] and completed forms should be returned to her no later than 12 noon on Friday 3rdSeptember 2021.

Interviews will be held virtually.

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Job opportunity – Transforming Workforce Lead

SCOTTISH CARE REQUIRES A TRANSFORMING WORKFORCE LEAD

An exciting opportunity has arisen within Scottish Care for a Transforming Workforce Lead to join the national Scottish Care team. This full-time post is initially to October 2022 with a possible extension beyond this. The post is remunerated at £40,800 plus agreed expenses. 

Scottish Care is funded by the Scottish Government to provide independent sector engagement around workforce development, with the specific aim to ensure that ‘Social services providers in the independent sector fully contribute to the national workforce development agenda and maximise their capacity to self-manage the development of their workforce.’

Applicants must be qualified to degree level or equivalent and have experience of working at a senior level in health or social services or a related area.  Current knowledge of nursing practice within social care settings, knowledge of nursing and social care workforce regulation, and experience of leading a learning & development function or project are desirable.

The consultant will operate at a national strategic level; create significant collaborations for independent care sector organisations; contribute to national policy groups and consultations specifically on nursing; organise and deliver national workforce events and presentations and work across the sector nationally.  

The role requires skilful collaboration with key partners in the Scottish Government, the Chief Nursing Office Directorate, Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC), Care Inspectorate, NHS Education for Scotland, local authorities, third sector and others with a requirement to attend frequent meetings and events across Scotland.

The contract offers a flexible, home-based option with occasional work at the Scottish Care offices in Ayr. 

Application forms:  An Application Form and Equal Opportunities Monitoring Form is available directly from Laura Bennie, Office Manager, Scottish Care [email protected] and completed forms should be returned to her no later than 12 noon on Friday 3rd September 2021. Interviews will be held virtually on Friday 10th September 2021.  If you have not been contacted by Wednesday 8th September 2021, please assume your application has been unsuccessful on this occasion.

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Care Tech 4 – Tickets now on sale!

Tickets are now available for our fourth technology event ‘Care Tech 4′ which is scheduled for Thursday 26 and Friday 27 August 2021.

The event will take place virtually and will bring together a range of perspectives to discuss developments and impacts of technology and the future potential of technology across the Scottish social care sector. It will also feature a range of panel discussions and opportunities to hear the latest developments around technology in social care.

Tickets are priced at £20+VAT and will give delegates access to both days, as well as access to recordings of the event.

Please see below for an outline of the programme.

Event Programme Outline - Care Tech 4 Final Version
Download programme
Purchase tickets here
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Job opportunity – Project Administrator: Dumfries and Galloway

SCOTTISH CARE IS LOOKING FOR A PROJECT ADMINISTRATOR

An exciting opportunity has arisen within Scottish Care for a Project Administrator to work as part of our team in Dumfries & Galloway. This is a part time post (17.5 hours per week – £23,346 per year pro rata, till March 2022), the post is home based and there will be a requirement for occasional attendance at meetings & events.

Scottish Care is the representative body for the largest group of health and social care sector independent providers across Scotland delivering residential care, day care, care at home and housing support.

The post holder must have experience in office administration.  They must have the ability to work under pressure and to tight deadlines, versatility & flexibility along with excellent interpersonal skills at all levels is essential. Thepost holder must also have excellent IT skills with knowledge of Microsoft Office packages.

The post holder will possess sound organisational & administrative abilities and the ability to support staff across Dumfries & Galloway in delivering services to members.

This is an exciting post for someone who will have a strong commitment to the work of the organisation and the ability to work in a culture that is innovative.

For further information please email [email protected] who will forward a Job Description, Person Specification and Application Form.

To apply, forward a completed application to [email protected]

Interviews will be held virtually on 19th August 2021

Closing Date: 12pm Friday 13th August 2021

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Climate Action and the Social Care Collective

We are co-hosting a series of virtual roundtable events to explore climate change in the context of social care with The Health and Social Care Academy (an ALLIANCE programme). Discussions will consider both the impact on the sector and the action required to tackle climate change. 

In the run up to COP26, we will be holding a series of roundtable events which will foster dialogue and explore the crucial role that social care must play in the context of climate change – in addressing, adapting to and taking action to mitigate the impacts. 

Scottish Government has pledged to be a net-zero nation by 2045 and Industry and investments are going green. There is a need for the social care sector to be involved in supporting sustainability effort as it is both affected by and contributes to climate change. Presently, there is little policy and action being taken to deliver social care in a changing climate. Given the mixed economy of care provision in Scotland, the impact of climate change will need to be acted upon by a range of different bodies, including local authorities, health and social care partnerships and care providers. 

Events will look at the current context, the barriers to action and will help identify solutions that can be taken forward by the sector as a call to action. It is our hope that these roundtables start to foster innovation, inspire action in the sector and ensure that social care is recognised as an equal partner in tackling climate change. 

The series will inform a set of principles and a call to action to inform stakeholders and groups on the areas for constructive and collaborative improvement in climate change and social care, which will be shared prior to COP26 on November 1, 2021. 

These roundtables will be held online on the following dates: 

  • Wednesday 11th August, 10:00 to 12:00 
  • Wednesday 15th September, 10:00 to 12:00
  • Wednesday 20th October, 10:00 to 12:00 

Final details for each event, including confirmed speakers, will be announced over the coming weeks. 

The events will be held on Zoom and are not designed to elicit person information from participants. For more information, please read our respective Privacy Statements: 

The ALLIANCE 

 Scottish Care 

Please sign up through Eventbrite.  If you have any questions or would like to learn how to get involved, please email [email protected].