For those of us of a certain age, Abba once sang “money, money, money”. If you are singing that in your head, you are also old. If you wonder who Abba is and are currently asking AI, then you are too young to be managing or owning a care home.
I know how to fix the Social Care Crisis that we are in. It’s easy – fund us properly.
There, I said it.
Before I wax lyrical about why, let us turn the clock back a little and look at the Covid pandemic and how things were in the NHS and Social Care.
The worst thing we ever did was clap for the NHS. Watching politicians banging spoons on pans and clapping like their lives depended on it made me angry and still does to this day. I lost several TV’s to that carry on a few years ago. I will not detract from the NHS and their amazing work in that period, but hang on a minute, what did they think that care homes were doing at that time? We weren’t sitting about listening to unanswered buzzers and nicking the residents Victoria sponge cake were we?
Untested residents being sent into care homes, staffing chaos, PPE issues and people we cared for day to day dying. We were quite busy ourselves actually.
And, this whole sorry global episode did one thing for the Care Sector. It demonstrated without question that the NHS would fall apart and grind to a halt without us, and secondly that actually more money makes a difference. Covid did bring more money into social care, whether that was grants, sick pay cover, free PPE and so on. It helped, it worked and it made a difference.
Like all good things, we then stopped doing it.
MPs are Like Dinosaurs
I am not a political person. I dislike all political parties with the same degree of emotion. Mainly because none of them have an ounce of ability to see the obvious. The NHS does not need more money. It has plenty and wastes a great deal of it. It is slow, cumbersome and inefficient. If I ran my care homes and care at home businesses like that I would be bust.
The NHS needs to be held to account for itself. Social Care needs to be funded properly. We are already held to account for ourselves, many times over, every day.
Dinosaurs were big impressive things, slow and then ultimately extinct. Up close they were not that bright either. Pea sized brains. T Rex was a one trick pony, all teeth and anger and noise. MPs – pea sized brain, all show and bluster, one trick ponies ……..
Funding
The NHS management have been told off, some of them about to be made redundant and then the ones that are left with hand marks on the back of their legs get a reward of another bunch of billions of pounds. Wow. That’s kind of cyclical and do you know what? It won’t fix things.
Fundamentally, to fix ASC and take it off CPR we need to fund care properly. All aspects of it.
Fees are abysmal, if not insulting. You cannot stay all inclusive in a one star place for £750 per week. That’s without any care needs.
You cannot provide quality care at home for £21 per hour and then do 15 minutes of care for someone. My guinea pig gets more time than that every morning and he isn’t incontinent and has no meds. He doesn’t exhibit challenging behaviour and he hasn’t fallen over for a while. He does squeak a lot though – maybe he should have 1:1 (not in a care home said the social worker but he had it on the ward at the vets ….?)
You cannot hike NI, minimum wage and inflationary overheads and tell care providers to keep smiling.
You cannot staff a care home with more staff when there is no margin in the fees to do so. Safe staffing should really read minimum staffing. Then people fall over and break something and then need the NHS again. Then the home has a safeguarding and accusatory meetings over and over.
Prevention is better than cure and the Social Care Sector underpins the NHS function.
It absolutely makes sense to fund the care of the most vulnerable. Especially when you concentrate those people in a setting. I have one home that hasn’t seen a GP for years. We have a community matron who, to be honest, is fairly useless and spends more time off sick or raising concerns and safeguarding than she ever has done actually treating people and preventing hospital admissions. Fund care and fund the support mechanisms for care and you will alleviate pressure on the NHS.
I will pick up again on this theme in my next installment.
Support
Would you like to phone a friend ?
Well, the good news is that “The Care Guys” offer a Safeguarding Support Service on a pay monthly basis, together with all sorts of support for RM’s and Providers. Friendly, affordable and real life advice and support.
Visit our website : www.thecareguys.co.uk