There is currently an opportunity to join the Scottish Care team as a Workforce Policy & Practice Lead. Please see details below.
Awards 2019 – 1 week until nominations open
Job Opportunity: Project Administrator (Aberdeen)
Award Nominations to open in February
Job Opportunity: Independent Sector Lead (Glasgow)
Re-discovering Compassion: a new blog from our CEO
The start of a year is always an opportunity to look forward, to resolve to do things differently, to relate in a different way and to change direction. It is therefore a risky time. The desire for the new can risk sweeping away the best of the old; the energy to innovate can risk draining sense from what is commonplace; the urgency for change can risk the loss of the safe and familiar. The necessity of action can risk the way we relate to others. The first few days of 2019 have filled me personally with a growing sense of dismay and on occasion real concern about the cohesiveness of society. There seems to me to be a growing sense of dis-ease and a lack of compassion and care in politics, in many of our communities and in the wider media. This personal unease was articulated by the Queen in her Christmas Message when she said: “Even with the most deeply held differences, treating the other person with respect and as a fellow human being is always a good first step towards greater understanding.” These words were immediately seized upon and considered to be a veiled reference to Brexit. Be that as it may I would suggest they have a wider resonance at the start of this year. Compassion is central to all good and meaningful social care. Indeed compassion is one of the five principles which underpin our Health and Care Standards in Scotland. Sadly what seems to be lacking in recent days is a sense of compassion beyond the context of social care and health. Admittedly compassion can be a bit of a nebulous word but it has some essential elements. Compassion conveys a sense of sympathy, fellow feeling, empathy, understanding, and tolerance. It is not surprising therefore that the concept of compassion is central to good care. We recognise that the best of care in care homes and of care in an individual’s own home requires staff who are empathic, sensitive and able to relate and get alongside others – even when personal feelings may make that relationship challenging. Care involves developing the art of being professionally compassionate. The scenes of angry crowds shouting down politicians outside Westminster in recent days, the vitriol and violence expressed on social media and the horror of several murders in open and public spaces in the last two weeks seem to paint a picture of a society which has lost the capacity to be compassionate. Now I immediately accept that this analysis on its own is too simplistic not least because the tens of thousands of staff in care homes, homecare and in doing jobs in the NHS and elsewhere are daily illustrations of compassion in action. But… I suspect we need to recognise that civil society and cohesive communities do not just happen but that they need to be striven for and built. I suspect that the ability to dialogue with difference and to discover reconciliation and compromise is something that has to be developed and worked at. I suspect that the resolution of the massive political and economic challenges we face in the next weeks and months can only be achieved by shared collective resolve and mutual respect. Compassion needs to become the energy not just of professional carers but all who would seek to lead us politically and economically. If we are to move forward on so many issues whether Brexit or a Scottish Budget, whether reform of social care or education, then I suspect we need to rediscover the spirit and power of compassion in civic and political discourse. I believe it is perfectly possible to hold strongly held political and philosophical beliefs without that requiring the disminishing and devaluing of the views and values of others. I believe that it is absolutely right that anger and passion can be utilised in a way which is righteous and convincing. However when anger becomes dismissive and denigrating of the other then it is destructive and dangerous. The philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer wrote ‘Compassion is the basis of morality.’ It is such a political morality we need to urgently discover. The year that lies in front of us will bring undoubted challenge and in the world of social care as elsewhere the necessity to make hard and sometimes painful decisions – I very much hope that it will also bring a discovery of the power of compassion. Dr D Macaskill @DrDMacaskill
The state of care in Scotland: new blog from Dr Donald Macaskill
The State of Care in Scotland
Over the next few days our newspapers and magazines will be full of reviews of 2018 and the expression of hopes and resolutions for 2019. It would seem churlish not to add to that volume. So here are some social care hopes and reflections for Scotland. Worker pay and conditions: ‘A fair days wage for a fair day’s work’. The adage is very familiar and describes the desire to pay staff according to the skills they evidence. The nature of social care has changed dramatically over the years. Social care is a major part of the Scottish economy with 1 in 13 Scots employed and delivering multi-skilled and professional care and support. Yet we have consistently failed to adequately reward and remunerate them at an appropriate level. Even an initiative such as introducing the Scottish Living Wage for frontline carers has failed to make the step-change that was desired because put simply it has been only partially funded at National Government level and poorly implemented by local authorities. The ongoing effects of underfunding are being seen right across the country as care home and home care organisations struggle to recruit people for the fundamental job of care. If we are serious about care in 2019 we not only need to establish a Pay Commission to set proper targets for worker terms and conditions but we need to stop deluding ourselves into thinking that paying the minimum is enough and start attempting to pay with respect for a job well done. Workforce retention and recruitment The survey published today by Scottish Care is the last in a long line of research we have produced in 2018 and illustrates that we are way beyond the point of crisis in terms of recruitment and retention in Scotland’s social care sector. It’s all too easy to read figures which state for instance that we have 9 out of 10 organisations who simply can’t find staff, that we have a nursing vacancy rate of 20% equivalent to having no NHS nurses at all in the whole of the Western Isles, Shetland and Orkney put together, that we are losing nearly 2/3rds of care staff within the first six months of their employment. These are the statistics but behind them is a story of staff struggling to cover shifts, working far too many hours to fill in the gaps, and being quite frankly exhausted by their care. Behind them is a story of younger staff deciding enough is enough and walking away with their skills and abilities. Behind them is the truth that unless we start to sort out the crisis of the social care workforce in 2019 then we will begin to see closed signs over care homes up and down the country and more people stuck in hospital because there are no social care staff to care for them in the community. The statistics are easy to read but the stories of people at risk should challenge us all to do something urgently. Brexit and migration It is impossible to reflect on the year that has passed or the year to come without mentioning Brexit. The social care sector in Scotland is significantly dependent upon and grateful for the skilled and dedicated staff – some 12% in care homes – who have come to care for Scotland over the last few years. Brexit is not going to happen in March because it is already happening up and down Scotland today as individuals and families are making hard decisions on whether or not to stay and contribute or to leave. Employers are already reporting to us the loss of dozens of staff in the last few weeks who feel that their future lies elsewhere. The depth of uncertainty, the lack of political will and what sometimes appears to us as a failure to appreciate that decisions being made or not being made are for many a matter of life and death is having a profound impact on the social care sector in Scotland. We urgently need a sense of certainty. What we are getting however is a set of proposals around immigration that shamefully describe social care staff as low-skilled and set levels of pay expectation that will make it impossible for us to plug the gaps in our already critical workforce shortage. How dare politicians and policy makers describe the intensive skills of palliative care, neurological support, behaviour management and compassionate care which is being delivered in our care homes and home care organisations as being ‘low-skilled’. 2018 has already seen a massive drop in recruitment from Europe. 2019 has to see the development of a model of immigration that really takes people seriously rather than playing to the crowd. Scottish Budget The Finance Secretary is busily trying to build a political consensus around his initial budget proposals. Our colleagues in Cosla and elsewhere have expressed alarm about the extent to which the current offer will fail to meet the needs of local government. This is the primary route for funding social care in Scotland. Scottish Care has called and continues to call for an investment in social care in 2019 of £200million. It is not our role to say where that resource has to come from or how we pay for it. It is absolutely our task to flag up the insufficiency of funding which is frankly putting lives at risk. Yes we need to reform how we are doing things and we are working robustly with others to achieve this. Yes we need to ensure that individuals are able to better self-manage and remain independent for as long as possible. Yes we need to ensure that we have services which are adequately resourced from cradle to grave … but. We cannot continue to collude in a system which purchases care on the cheap and sets levels of eligibility so high that you have to be in some instances at death’s door before you get social care support. We cannot continue to collude with a system that purchases care by the minute and considers that care is about tasks rather than being with people .Let’s stop expecting social care to pick up the fiscal crumbs leftover on the plate – let us together change the size of the cake! Commission for Social Care Scottish Care has called for the creation of a Commission on the Funding of Social Care in Scotland. England and Wales are shortly to be presented with a White Paper on how they will fund social care., There are lots of ideas floating around – in Scotland we have not even started to have these debates. There is a real urgency faced with the increasing demands on social care, faced with workforce challenges, and the reality of financial uncertai8nty for us all to plan for our personal future. We are expected to do that at a personal level so it is incumbent upon those who call themselves our political leadership to work together in order to arrive at proposals for how we are going to as a society pay for our care in the years to come. Care is too important to be used as a political football. We need to get around the table and start talking. Integration In the last few weeks of the year we have seen published a report on the Integration of Health and Social Care from Audit Scotland. It made uncomfortable reading and has highlighted clear points for improvement. What we need to do in 2019 is to build on what is working and to once and for all make it clear that integrating health and social care is first and foremost about making life better for our fellow citizens. Integration is not about health and social care professionals learning to work together and talk to each other, though it is in part, it is trying to create a system where the individual citizen has greater control and choice, and the ability to direct their care and support. That is an aspiration which we should surely all work towards achieving. A future that cares The mark of any society which might want to describe itself as civilized, rights-based and mature is the degree to which it cares for those who are in greatest need and most vulnerable. There is such an amount of excellent care and support being delivered every minute of every day across Scotland. We are fortunate to have tens of thousands of staff who offer amazing care and astonishing love. There is so much to herald as positive and inspiring. But there are still challenges of resourcing, of workforce and of structure. Scotland has a proud heritage of putting people at the centre, of listening to those who have no voice, of creating space for those who feel threatened so they can feel secure, of giving welcome to those who are strangers. We have the capacity to direct our future into one that cares. But this future will not just happen rather it has to be moulded and built, nurtured and nourished, resourced and struggled for. As we finish a year and stand at the door of another we have the prospect of creating a nation that truly cares or one that walks by. Dr Donald Macaskill @DrDMacaskill
Care home sustainability indicators revealed in Scottish Care research
Care home sustainability indicators revealed in Scottish Care research
Today (27 Dec 2018), Scottish Care has published its most recent data on the independent sector care home workforce in Scotland.
The membership organisation for independent sector social care services – which represents almost 1000 care home, care at home, housing support and day care services for older people – surveyed its care home members on issues such as recruitment and retention of staff, payment of the Scottish Living Wage (SLW) and the sustainability of services.
The resulting Care Home Workforce Data Report 2018 is based on survey data from private, voluntary and charitable care homes supporting nearly 5,000 residents and employing a similar number of staff.
The findings include:
- 47% of care home services believe paying SLW has made them less sustainable, up from 42% last year, because it has not been properly funded
- The average turnover of staff in care homes is 24%, up from 22% in 2017
- 41% of care homes have found recruitment of staff more difficult in 2018
- 77% of care homes have staff vacancies, including 61% with carer vacancies
- Up to 44% of care homes rely on the EU as a recruitment pool for different categories of care staff
Scottish Care CEO, Dr Donald Macaskill said:
“This significant report is the latest piece of research produced by Scottish Care which highlights the critical stage the care home sector finds itself in Scotland. Whilst there is much to be positive about in the description of dedicated care and support, the research also depicts a sector facing serious workforce challenges.
“We are struggling to recruit new staff and hold on to existing staff. The uncertainties that exist around Brexit are not helping this situation, given that the EU is a crucial recruitment avenue for many care homes and we rely on staff from European countries to form part of this critical workforce.
“We have to urgently reframe how care homes are perceived and valued. They are hugely rewarding and fulfilling places to work, with real learning and progression opportunities available. The work is up there with the highest levels of skill and complexity required in any workplace. Yet we continue to see them portrayed as unskilled, unfulfilling places to work and as second-class careers compared not only to other sectors but to the NHS also.
We are calling upon all our partners and indeed all citizens to work with us to improve understanding of care homes and to better recognise and value this workforce’s contribution, including through better financial rewards. If we don’t, we risk losing an essential component of our health and social care system. Without a workforce, there cannot be the high quality care homes that communities and individuals require and deserve.”
