Almost half of providers surveyed by Care England and Sona say they are short-staffed at least some of the time
High-quality care is sustained by the professionalism and ‘goodwill’ of the workforce rather than sustainable by design, a new report has warned.
Providers are heavily reliant on overtime, the use of agency staff and ‘workarounds’ such as managers stepping in to cover shifts to maintain continuity of care, according to the report published today by Sona and Care England.
Nearly half of care provider respondents (49 per cent) surveyed for the report said they are short-staffed at least some of the time, leading to over half (54 per cent) being ‘forced to adopt overtime as their primary operating model., the report said.
The report is based on a survey of 318 care staff including frontline care and support staff, team leaders, managers, senior operational leaders and executive-level roles, supplemented by in depth qualitative interviews with senior leaders at all types of care provider organisation from services for older people to learning disability and mental health facilities.
It also found that eight in ten staff say they are slowed down by reliance on manual or workaround processes.
Staff are keen to adopt digital processes that save time, according to the report, which also found that tech adoption is more likely to be held back by constrained funding and a lack of integration with other services than staff resistance.
Sona vice president Paul Watson said the report ‘shows a sector being held together by incredible people, but the infrastructure needs to catch up,” as it’s “clear that resilience is currently carried by individuals rather than systems."
The new analysis is released against a backdrop of an ongoing recruitment crisis that has left the sector with a 7 per cent vacancy rate – three times the average overall rate of 2.3 per cent.
Speaking at a seminar held to discuss the findings this week, Mr Watson said: “The path to genuine resilience lies in shifting from reactive ‘firefighting’ to proactive design, with digital maturity identified as the strongest controllable force for stability.
“By moving away from manual processes, providers can gain the visibility needed to identify staffing gaps days in advance, allowing them to support their teams more effectively and focus on delivering high-quality care” he added.
Speaking at the same event, Care England social care advisor Richard Ayres added: "Providers are continuing to deliver high-quality care, but they are often absorbing the gap between commissioned funding and actual delivery costs.
“We must shift from simply coping with pressure to designing resilience into how services operate."
