Rail strikes: Over half (58%) of nurses concerned rail strikes will further impact quality of care as NHS faces ‘intolerable pressure’
23rd November 2022, London, United Kingdom – New research has found over half (58%) of nurses and health and social care workers are concerned rail strikes will further exacerbate the issues surrounding quality of healthcare. The timing comes when healthcare professionals are already under ‘intolerable pressure’ as a result of the cost-of-living crisis. A study of over 1,000 nurses, health and social care workers, conducted by Florence, the healthcare platform using technology to help tackle the shortage of healthcare staff globally, found that nine in ten (90%) healthcare workers will be unable to get to work as a result of the rail strikes across the country. Well over two-fifths (45%) of healthcare workers are worried it will lead to people having to wait longer for appointments, causing additional strain on the NHS. With one of the highest vacancy rates and longest wait list in years*, the rail strikes are an external factor that is compounding the long list of internal challenges the NHS and care sector are currently facing. A staggering two thirds (63%) of healthcare workers are having to choose between food and fuel and one in five (14%) of nurses have started using food banks since the cost of living crisis began. Dr. Charles Armitage, CEO and founder of Florence, commented: “Healthcare workers are already worried about how the NHS will cope over the winter months, now we’re seeing concern about how the rail strikes will affect the quality of care with staff unable to travel. We’re at a crisis point when it comes to NHS and healthcare staffing and we need the government to do something about it. The government needs to look at a long term strategy and predict the trajectory for decades to come – we can’t be in a position where a rail strike is leaving the workforce on its knees.”
Anton Du Beke supports ‘Nights on Lottie’ campaign to recognise valuable work of UK carers
In partnership with The Care Workers Charity, the UK’s leading charity for supporting current and former care workers with financial grants and other support services, Lottie will offer 1,000 free night stays at a raft of amazing destinations exclusively for carers across the UK in 2023. Anton Du Beke has first-hand experience of the work of carers as his mother worked as a carer and knows how important a role it is. He said: “The majority of adults will care for a family member or friend at some point in their lives, and naturally the impact on a whole range of things are underestimated. “This initiative is a way of giving much needed respite to carers both paid and unpaid on the frontline. Will Donnelly co-founder Lottie said: “We are thankful to Anton for his help in raising awareness of the valuable role that carers play up and down the country day in and day out. “Despite being a fundamental part of the UK’s healthcare system – especially over the last few years – the UK’s social care workforce are often overworked and underappreciated. Many carers, especially unpaid carers, (someone who cares for a friend or family member due to illness, a disability, or a mental health issue) feel invisible and unrecognised for all that they do”. “We are incredibly honoured to have Anton’s support to launch our 1000-night pledge. Nights On Lottie is a huge opportunity to raise awareness of our on-going mission to champion the incredible efforts of carers across the UK – and it was inspired by the fantastic work of Nights On Us, who gifted NHS workers free hotel stays during the pandemic”, continued Donnelly. To kick start the nationwide mission, Lottie have teamed up with Unplugged, who run a variety of digital detox cabins in the UK countryside, to offer over 30 x 3-night stays for carers (and a plus one) in need of a break. Hector Hughes, Co-Founder of Unplugged, said: “We started Unplugged to help busy and burnt-out people rest and recharge. Carers are always on and always putting others before themselves. We’re so pleased to be a part of this and to help them switch off in nature for a few days with an Unplugged digital detox.” Nights On Lottie’s first giveaway with Unplugged will run until midnight on 9th January 2023. Open to anyone who works as a care worker or carer (both paid and unpaid), all you need to do is either nominate yourself, a friend, family member, or colleague, via the online submission form. 33 winners will be chosen at random when the competition ends to win a free 3-night stay at one of Unplugged’s cabins at any time in 2023 (excluding Bank Holidays). “The support for those on the frontline of the social care sector doesn’t stop there either: we want to continue championing them through our pledge of 1000 free night stays at a variety of hotels and cabins, exclusively for carers and social care workers. Nights On Lottie X Unplugged is only the beginning” concludes Donnelly. Karolina Gerlich, CEO of The Care Workers Charity said: “Since 2009, we’ve supported thousands of social care workers through financial hardships, including giving almost £2 million pounds of support to carers via our Emergency Fund grants during 2020*. Unfortunately, unless there is industry-wide change that offers social care workers the help they need, we expect the number of carers we help to significantly rise over the winter months. Every bit helps, and we are delighted to support Lottie’s mission to champion the incredible efforts of carers across the UK”. Night’s On Lottie’s first pledge of 100 free night stays with Unplugged officially launches on 23rd November to mark Carers Rights Day 2022 (24th November). To nominate your own Nights on Lottie carer, visit Lottie.org/nights-on-us-giveaway/
Care homes missing out on £1,000s of savings in food waste recycling
On average, UK care homes are spending £50,862 every year on sending their food waste to landfill, but recycling food waste could save them £7,000 per year, according to new research from Keenan Recycling. This comes as the Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) Environmental Act is fast approaching, which plans to make it a legal requirement in England for companies to recycle food waste. The study, conducted by the national food waste recycling company, also revealed that 64%* of care homes in the UK either don’t know about the legislation or if they do, have little or no understanding of it. On top of this, almost half (48%) of UK-based care homes do not think food waste is a core priority, and nearly half (42%) said that they do not recycle food waste at all. However, although care homes said that they are unprepared and uneducated for the legislation, 65% did say that they were working to gain an understanding of it and 56% said that they were concerned about the carbon emissions sending food waste to landfill produces. Grant Keenan, managing director at Keenan Recycling, said: “Funding is one of the greatest pressures on all our budgets at the moment. We’re all impacted by the cost-of-living crisis, but the care home industry has the double whammy of not only balancing resource constraints but also the cost to people. A saving of £7,000 could see invaluable flexibility to provide extra support for staff to giving residents access to more treatments. “On top of this, with pending legislative change and pressure for organisations to make public their own net zero plans, food recycling will be key to how operations function sustainably in the future, so the best time to become involved with it is now.” For businesses in Scotland, where Keenan’s headquarters reside, food waste recycling has been mandatory for those producing over 50kg of waste since 2014. This was then extended to any business producing over 5kg of waste in 2016, making it a legal obligation for any such business to recycle using a registered waste carrier service. Grant ended: “This is what the English legislation that’s proposed to be introduced in 2023 is likely to enforce, meaning that most businesses should be looking to become more educated about food waste recycling and its many benefits, including financial, towards creating a more circular economy.” For more insights download Keenan Recycling’s full ‘Food Waste Recycling 101’ report here.
Top of the class: Specialist Cambridgeshire care provider recognised for its outstanding contribution to social care at leading industry awards
A specialist Cambridgeshire social care and rehabilitation provider has recently been recognised for its outstanding contribution to social care at a leading industry awards ceremony — highlighting its continued commitment to making a meaningful difference to the lives of its residents. Askham Village Community, near Doddington, claimed first place in the ‘Outstanding Contribution to Social Care awards’ at the regional Great British Care Awards — an achievement that will now see it progress to the National finals on the 17th March 2023 at The ICC, Birmingham. The award serves to recognise the family-run business of over 30 years as a whole and its admirable approach to all forms of care and rehab — built upon the core values of community, dignity and empowerment. Alongside the more traditional nursing and residential care Askham provides, the judges were particularly impressed by the life-changing work carried out by Askham Rehab, the specialist rehabilitation branch of Askham Village community — which has continued to support patients going through what is often the most challenging period of their lives. Commenting on this recent achievement, Aliyyah-Begum Nasser, Operations Director at Askham, said: “To win the Outstanding Commitment to Social Care award is a real honour for all of us at Askham and I think the word ‘commitment’ is pertinent here. Each and every member of staff at Askham is wholeheartedly committed to our residents and this is evidenced by the quality of care received. We are one big community here, made up of a number of smaller teams each of which works interdependently to deliver the outstanding care and rehab that this award has recognised. We place real value on staff development to ensure we are up to date with best practices, but ultimately, none of this would be possible without the outstanding personalities of our team and their desire to make a real difference to people’s lives on a daily basis.” The Great British Care Awards are a series of regional events throughout the UK and are a celebration of excellence across the care sector. The purpose of the awards are to pay tribute to those individuals who have demonstrated outstanding excellence within their field of work — with the finalist of each region deservingly progressing to the national finals. Aliyyah continued: “It’s important to take stock at times like this and remember how far we have come as an organisation. We work with some amazing people and families each and every day and to be a part of their individual journeys is a real privilege. Our fingers are all firmly crossed for a winning outcome at the national finals.” Askham is always welcoming new residents and staff into its growing community — with real scope for professional development through bespoke training plans designed to nurture ambition and reward hard work. For further information, please contact 01354 740269 or visit https://askhamvillagecommunity.com/
How social care can attract more workers by overcoming language barriers
Widespread recent national news has highlighted that the UK’s social care sector desperately needs to attract more staff. According to a recent report from Skills for Care, job vacancies have increased by 55,000 (52%), the highest level since records began. There are around 165,000 vacancies across social care. When this number is added to the reported 132,000 vacancies in the NHS, it means the UK health and social sector needs to recruit a workforce bigger than the population of Wolverhampton. Additionally, the number of ‘filled’ roles has decreased by about 3%, equating to 50,000, between 2020/21 and 2021/22. Thus, it is now critical to address language barriers to help both fill vacancies and improve the level of care on the frontline in major cities. Accessing talent in large urban The latest census data for England and Wales shows that in large urban areas like London more than 40% of residents are non-UK born, meaning they’re extremely likely to have English as an additional language (EAL). By breaking down language barriers it could unlock a huge pool of workers to the care sector. Communicating within teams and with some care home residents can already be challenging depending on their health issues. When you add to this that some parties have EAL, communicating can become extremely difficult. Language barriers can lead to a delay in care, confusion in care delivery and also make it difficult to communicate with the patient’s loved ones. The growing number of current and potential workers, and patients with limited English proficiency is concentrated around large urban areas, which means the need for language support is already critical in large cities like London, Birmingham and Manchester. Wasted time overcoming communication challenges Research conducted by Pocketalk shows that more than a third of healthcare workers agreed that language barriers make it more difficult to assess a patient’s needs. The research also showed that healthcare workers are losing around half a working day every week – four and a half hours – overcoming communication challenges. There is an undeniable need for interpreters, but this comes with costs and is not always quick to implement. Although social care providers can use interpreters, they must rely on the availability of one when needed and ensure consistent quality of translation to build and maintain trust and understanding. How technology can help The right technology can help greatly, which is why the UK government announced an extra £5.9bn investment into healthcare in 2021, £2.1bn of which will go on improving IT and digital technology within the NHS. Currently there are a number of tech translation solutions available that can take away some of these pain points and every option comes with its pros and cons. Google Translate is a solution that can provide instant translation between patient and carer, but the effectiveness of the translations isn’t consistent across all languages. Alternatively, real-time language digital translation devices like GDPR compliant Pocketalk instantly translate a large number of languages in both audio and text – aiding real time communication between parties. There is now an opportunity for social care providers to use translation technology to attract more staff who speak EAL and overcome communication barriers. This will help to ease staff shortages while improving the clinical outcomes for patients.
Retirement Villages Group hires new Head of Care & Wellbeing in expansion of care offering
Retirement Villages Group (“RVG”) has hired its first ever Head of Care & Wellbeing, Shirley Hall, who will lead the review and expansion of the business’ care and wellbeing offer. This comes during an ambitious growth period for the business, as it continues to roll out its strategy to acquire, develop and operate 5,000 homes across 30-40 new developments in urban and peri-urban locations across the UK in the next 10 years. Shirley joins with a focus on overseeing existing external care services, as well as reviewing and helping deliver RVG’s wellbeing offer. She will also become a key contact for some of our residents, working closely with them day-to-day to shape the new offering to fit their needs, to drive independence and innovation. Hall is a registered nurse with experience providing clinical governance in a range of positions. She joins from a variety of senior roles at organisations including The ExtraCare Charitable Trust, where she developed a new wellbeing assessment on an app for residents in conjunction with Aston University, and before that, the British Heart Foundation, where she led their ‘Hearty Lives’ programme – which aimed to address obesity and inequalities for younger people. This represented a stark shift in direction for them and led to a widespread national de facto change. Commenting on her appointment, Shirley Hall, Head of Care & Wellbeing at Retirement Villages Group said: “I was drawn to this role as it felt like a real opportunity to support our residents – to set the bar for quality of care and make a difference. We know that across the sector, it is difficult for many residents to access GPs and primary care, and I intend to change this across our villages. RVG has a fantastic culture, and I am excited to meet with the employees and residents to ensure my approach is coordinated and aligned.” Will Bax, CEO of Retirement Villages Group, added: “At RVG, we see opportunity in old age. Helping people to stay mentally, physically, and emotionally fit is at the heart of what we do. But for retirement living solutions to be truly excellent, they also need a discrete but brilliant care offer to catch people when needed. I’m thrilled Shirley has chosen to join us as we look to rapidly expand our portfolio of integrated retirement communities. She’s a leading light in the sector and will make sure that we can help many more people to thrive in later life.”
Welcoming experience for Japanese Resident in Bridgewater care home
A Japanese woman who has been living in the UK for nearly 30 years has been enjoying a ‘cultural experience day’ organised by her care home in Bridgwater to enable her to revisit her native heritage. Seventy-three-year-old Fumiko Mackintosh is the newest resident to move into specialist dementia care home Avalon, where staff arranged a Japanese-themed wellbeing day to help her settle. After a morning shopping trip – one of Fumiko’s favourite pastimes – the highlight came in the afternoon with a special visit for Fumiko from fluent Japanese speaker Lulia Marton, a friend of Avalon and daughter of the home’s deputy manager. Fumiko was delighted to have the chance to talk in her native language and also enjoyed writing in Japanese with her young conversation partner. Lulia, who also speaks fluent German, is in Year 11 at The Castle School in Taunton and has studied Japanese privately for four years, prompted by a love of Japanese culture. A special bonus for Fumiko was a home-made Katsu curry, which Lulia had prepared especially for her visit. Avalon’s activities co-ordinator, Lisa Priddice, said: “Fumiko liked it so much she had tears of joy in her eyes and she was smiling the whole time. “This was a really special time for Fumiko who thoroughly enjoyed celebrating her culture with Lulia, talking with her about her early days with her beloved husband and about Osaka where she grew up.” Fumiko emigrated to England in 1995 with her husband Terry Mackintosh, who had been working as an English teacher in Japan. The pair returned to the UK after a major earthquake and spent most of their married life in Axbridge where Fumiko worked as a secretary. Lisa Priddice said: “We always make sure we find out as much as we can about our residents’ life stories, because being able to converse with them in a meaningful way about their memories is such an important part of dementia care. “Fumiko is fluent in English and has lived here for many years but her Japanese roots are still an important part of who she is. She really enjoyed her special day and is looking forward to more visits from Lulia in the future.” https://www.camelotcare.co.ukAvalon Nursing Home is run by award-winning care providers Camelot Care who also have homes in Wellington and Plymouth. More information at www.camelotcare.co.uk
Suffolk care provider delighted to announce finalist success in prestigious care awards
A family-run Suffolk care provider is delighted to announce the successes of two of its staff members in one of the UK’s leading care industry awards. Wellbeing Care, a care provider operating across Suffolk and Northamptonshire, has seen a member of its staff win their category, and another receive highly commended, in the Great British Care Awards 2022, which serve to celebrate excellence in the social care industry. Maisie Brabben won the ‘Care Home Worker’ award for the East Midlands after consistently providing a high quality standard of care for residents at The Dell and continuing her career development by recently completing a Level 3 in Health and Social Care. In the same category, Team Leader, Amanda Colvin, received a “Certificate of Recommendation”. Seeking to shine a light on the care industry, the Great British Care Awards comprises a series of regional events throughout the UK that celebrate excellence across the sector, and as winner of the group, Maisie goes on to compete on a national level next year. Whilst Cristian Hoca, Activities Coordinator at Meadow View Care Home, was highly commended in the ‘Activity Coordinator’ category for his person centred approach and engaging entertainment and activities within the home. His notable mention comes as he also lends his hand at cooking when help is needed – with no task too much to ask of him. Away from the awards, Wellbeing Care continues to celebrate the success of its staff, with Carl Andrews also recently completing his Level 3 in Health and Social Care. Joy Henshaw, Regional Director of Wellbeing Care, said: “We are proud of each and everyone of our staff. They’re hard working, dedicated and compassionate, and we’re immensely proud to have them recognised at such prestigious awards. Although only a select few make it to the final, we believe it is a team effort that helps them get there. “We’re delighted for Maisie and can’t wait to support her at the national event next year. We’re lucky that all of our staff want to continue to further develop their knowledge and understanding and that’s why we continue to excel in every aspect of care.” For more information on Wellbeing Care and the services it provides, please visit https://www.wellbeingcare.co.uk/. Or for more information on the Great British Care Awards, please visit https://www.care-awards.co.uk/.
Catch of the day: Lowestoft care home residents tackle old hobbies as part of ‘compassion campaign’ to encourage an active lifestyle
From catching sizable carps to unearthing dinosaur bones, tenants from a Lowestoft support facility are being encouraged to remain independent and active by adopting a hobby as part of a ‘compassion campaign’ to coincide with World Kindness Day. Wellbeing Care’s Dell View, which specialises in assisted living services, has been helping its tenants to find and pursue activities they enjoy to promote independence and support mental wellbeing as part of its new compassion initiative that launched on World Kindness Day (Sunday 13th November). Two residents who particularly like the sport of fishing were recently supported on a fishing trip, and even managed to catch a sizable 5lb carp. Whilst another tenant was given the opportunity to go horse riding, and now attends sessions regularly after falling in love with the activity. One gentleman has been uncovering historical remains through his metal detecting hobby, which he then sells on to museums. His findings include rare bottles, artefacts of historical importance and dinosaur bones. He also completed the Hadrian’s Wall challenge this summer, finishing three hours before anyone else. Research shows that people with hobbies are less likely to suffer from stress, low mood, and depression, as spending time on an activity you enjoy can improve mental health and wellbeing. Joy Henshaw, Regional Director for Wellbeing Care, said “Across all of our homes, we encourage our tenants and residents to maintain their hobbies and interests, as we see huge impacts on their confidence and happiness by doing so. Especially at Dell View where some tenants are reluctant to leave their residence, it’s great to see them out and active whilst gaining some social interaction, as we’re all about helping our residents to lead as normal life as possible. “We work hard to support all of our residents’ hobbies and interests, whatever they may be. From motorbike riding, art, fitness or fishing, we hope to ignite a passion within them all that gives them a sense of purpose and makes their days more interesting.” Wellbeing Care’s Dell View provides person-centred assisted living services that are all about treating each and every tenant as an individual. The apartments promote independent living but offer peace of mind that help is close by. With a team of highly qualified, trained and dedicated staff they aim to offer professional and dignified care to residents tailored to their individual needs. For more information on Wellbeing Care, please visit www.wellbeingcare.com.
