Outcry in Staffordshire at comments adult social care system is 'broken'

Councillor Gillian Pardesi’s remarks, made at a Staffordshire County Council meeting, were met with concerns they would affect staff morale in a sector already facing financial and recruitment challenges.

She said: “We’re told adult social care continues to be an area of financial risk. When will this administration accept that using reserves and putting up council tax is not a long term solution?

“We need to reset the button on the adult social care system. It is broken and we all know that that is having a massive impact on the way our NHS is able to operate right now.

“Care staff and care packages prevent hospital admissions, minimise stays in hospital, free up beds and reduce ambulance waiting times. In order to recruit and retain care staff, one of the easiest solutions is to offer staff better pay – why is this not happening?”

Councillor Julia Jessel, cabinet member for health and care, responded: “I refute that the social care system is broken – it isn’t broken, it’s operating very well. It has its challenges, as have a lot of areas of our lives.

“It’s demoralising if people keep repeating the headlines of the trash media. There are people out there, particularly in social care, who feel undervalued and permanently under the hammer.

“They’re not; we try and support them, their careers and their work life balance. I ask that we don’t permanently talk the service down.

“The adult social care sector employs around 22,000 staff in the county and like everywhere in England has been struggling with recruitment and retention. Most staff are satisfied with their jobs but have stressed the importance of ensuring adequate pay and benefits, training and progression, and recognition of their roles.

“The vast majority of care staff are employed by independent companies who determine their own rates of pay. The council increased fees in 2022/23: for home care by 12% and for care homes by an average of 6.24%.

“The Government has promised additional funding for adult social care in 2023/24 and we will review fees again when this is confirmed in order to recognise the rising cost of providing services. The council is also developing a strategy for a future care workforce in Staffordshire that describes how we will work with the sector and partners to sustain and grow the workforce.”

Councillor Mark Deaville said: “I hate the term broken, it’s certainly not broken. All that does is demoralise our wonderful staff.”

Councillor Ian Parry said: “We are not using reserves to support adult social care, we’re using reserves at the moment to address the pressures on inflation. Adult social care is always an area where we have to respond to growing demographic and pressures upon it.

“But it’s unfair that people are obsessing – perhaps rightly – about discharge from hospital and seeing this as a local council issue rather than an issue in the round. This is a much bigger operation than the discharge side of it and post-hospital care.”

Cabinet members are due to consider the social care workforce strategy at a meeting on Wednesday (January 18). It is then set to be published and launched in March.

Councillor Jessel said: “People working across Staffordshire in social care do an amazing job protecting and supporting the most vulnerable people in the county and we are committed to working hard not only to attract the best staff, but to keep the best staff. We recognise that nationally we have seen unprecedented challenges in recruitment and our mission is to develop a more resilient care sector that enables more effective recruitment and retention of care staff.

“In developing this new strategy, we have worked together with partners including the NHS and the independent sector and staff themselves, to look at what matters most to them and how all employers can do their very best to recruit, retain and develop their own workforce. This includes encouraging more training and career progression opportunities as well as offering work placements and apprenticeships to attract more people starting out on their work life into the profession.”