Survey of NHS leaders in Wales highlights crisis in social care workforce impacting on patient care and safety
A recent survey of over 50 NHS leaders in Wales throws up stark results, painting a picture of a social care system struggling to cope with demand.
NHS leaders in Wales have said the pressures in the care sector are having a knock-on effect across the health and care system.
Many of the 50+ leaders surveyed said these pressures are driving urgent care demand, with a lack of social care capacity having an impact on the ability to tackle the elective care backlog.
The survey involved 50 NHS chairs, vice chairs, chief executives, executive directors and assistant directors from across Wales.
NHS leaders have said the pressures in the social care sector are having a knock-on effect across the health and care system.
The sector plays a critical part in protecting NHS capacity and its ability to deliver high-quality, safe care.
Welsh NHS Confederation says that social care services “play a crucial role in care pathways –caring for people at home, keeping people well for longer outside of hospital and enabling faster, safer discharges home.”
However, social care services are facing “significant challenges, including vulnerabilities in funding and market stability, growing unmet need and high levels of staff vacancies.”
Welsh NHS Confederation has said the impact of these challenges means people are missing out on vital care and support, “leaving them less independent and more likely to rely on healthcare services. ”
“The crisis is impacting every single part of the NHS from ambulance services and emergency departments to elective care, diagnostics, GPs, mental health services and community care.”
NHS leaders in Wales say they stand in support of their social care colleagues and are urging the Welsh government to increase investment in care services.
The survey found that along with increases in pay, almost nine in ten healthcare leaders supported an increase in investment to expand overall social care capacity and improve career profession opportunities to boost recruitment and retention.
93 per cent said this would be the most effective action that could be taken with 95 per cent of leaders surveyed felt it would be ‘very’ or ‘quite’ effective to have better integration between health and care services.
They say failure to act will leave more and more vulnerable people without the care and support they need, as well as adding further pressure on frontline NHS services.
“Actions are being taken, in partnership, to mitigate pressures across Wales, but without real system change, existing efforts cannot go far enough.” The Welsh NHS Confederation said.
Director of the Welsh NHS Confederation, Darren Hughes, said:
“This isn’t just about the NHS and social care. This is about empowering people to live the best lives they can.
“If we don’t want the system to fall over this winter, we need immediate short-term intervention, as well as a sustainable plan and funding model in the long-term.”
“Decisive action is needed now to commit to making it attractive to work in social care and increase the numbers of social care staff.”
“This is not a new problem, but one that has snowballed over the years to the point of crisis.”
“We know steps are being taken to alleviate pressures, but these are not having a great enough impact.”
“Of course, this not the only challenge the NHS is dealing with but working together to improve patient flow and ultimately giving more patients the care they need and deserve is the top priority for NHS leaders.”
“Without immediate action, both the NHS and social care could face an endless winter where people are being failed by the very systems that should be there to support them at their most vulnerable.”
Jonathan Griffiths, President, ADSS Cymru commented:
“All leaders across health and social care will need to work very hard this winter to find additional capacity in the system.”
“However, delayed discharge is just one symptom within a wider set of challenges in the integration of health and social care support for people, and as such it cannot be considered in isolation.”
“We must consider other factors and variables, including inappropriate hospital admissions, risk managed decision making and crucially, workforce supply.”
Welsh Conservative and Shadow Social Services Minister Gareth Davies MS said:
“For NHS leaders to come out like this and say social care is in crisis proves that the Labour Government in Cardiff Bay is not meeting its obligations to the people of Wales.
“People in social care are vulnerable and the workforce are hard-working, and if we are in a state of crisis, then the safety of both groups are at risk.
“The crisis in social is wide-ranging, with a huge impact on hospitals who can’t discharge healthy patients, leading to bed blocking, overcrowded A&Es, and slow ambulances.
“It is not a silver bullet, but the Welsh Conservatives have argued hard for better pay for carers – such as by linking them to NHS pay-scales at relatively little cost to the Labour Government – but ministers said no. This is the cost of Labour.”
The Welsh NHS Confederation is calling on the Welsh Government to:
1. Provide sustainable funding for social care with a fully funded pay rise to enable recruitment and retention, alongside greater overall investment and career progression opportunities.
2. Support better integration between health and social services to achieve seamless care and support for the patient.
3. Provide sufficient, ring-fenced funding and longer-term investment to transform out of hospital care and allow and long-term service development.
4. Publish locality based delayed discharge data so there is clear information and evidence of the current issues in providing packages of care to people leaving hospital.
5. Introduce performance measures that focus on quality-based outcomes, prevention, community services and whole-system collaboration.
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