The UK welfare system is in one of the worst states it has been in “many, many years,” according to the chief executive of Care England, the leading agency for independent care providers.
In conversation with Newcross Healthcare voices of care Podcast, Professor Martin Green, Chief Executive of Care England, highlights the huge challenges facing the sector and sets out his vision of what needs to be done to avoid its complete collapse.
“In one day there are about 160,000 vacancies in social services. It is also interesting how many people are considering leaving the sector. And of course, not only is it a very complex and challenging role, but we’ve all just gone through a global pandemic and social care has been at the forefront of that. And I think a lot of people are starting to think about whether or not they can continue because of the stress they’ve been through during the COVID crisis.”
With the NHS currently facing its harshest winter on record, as hospitals grapple with a “twindemic” of rising flu and Covid admissions, worsening ambulance wait times and industrial action by nurses and ambulance drivers, it is vital, according to Professor Green To understand the interdependence between the NHS and social care.
“If social care collapses, the NHS would collapse. Social care offers a lot of support to people, especially those with long-term illnesses, and also helps them live well and cope with these long-term illnesses. If you didn’t have social welfare, you would have a lot of people who suddenly got into a crisis and then needed acute care.”
In response to a recent YouGov survey commissioned by Newcross Healthcare which found that 27% of nurses are likely to leave the sector in the next 12 months, Professor Green argues that social care should be viewed as a profession with a reasonable and clear pay structure must have career paths to ensure people are paid what they are worth when doing a difficult and complex job.
Hosted by healthcare expert Suhail Mirza, the podcast episode starring Professor Martin Green is now available on the Newcross Healthcare website alongside previous episodes of the series https://www.newcrosshealthcare.com/voicesofcare as well as onyoutube, Spotify, Apple and a number of other podcast platforms.
You can see the whole episode here https://youtu.be/0rN7YQYHGoY
