The Covid-19 pandemic had a dramatic impact on the social care sector; overnight, new ways of working were imposed with rules on what could and couldn’t be provided and how care could be delivered.
Our survey shows Covid and its after-effects are still having the biggest impact on the sector’s ability to provide social care, with 51% of respondents choosing it, three times as many as the next most cited reason – the cost of living – at 17%.
This is particularly true for the medium to large organisations. The poor perception of social care (43%) and the cost-of-living crisis (29%) are the factors felt more heavily in small organisations with 1-9 employees.
I’m just tired and burnt out, as are most people in the industry jumping between one crisis to another.
51%
of respondents believe Covid and its after-effects are still having the biggest impact on the sector’s ability to provide social care
Covid impacted every single part of social care, from visitation rules to maintaining staffing during illness, the Covid vaccine rollout and relationships with NHS Trusts.
Palvi Dohdia, Director of Serene Care Ltd – a residential care home provider specialising in dementia care for elderly people – says she lost a lot of staff because of the pandemic:
“We’re such an exhausted, overworked industry, because everyone is actinv like Covid is over, but for the care home, it isn’t. I’ve not had a break in three years. I’m just tired and burnt out, as are most people in the industry jumping between one crisis to another: because when does social care stop? It doesn’t.”
Joanne Scott, who has worked in adult social care since she left school, says one impact of the pandemic has been the loss of social care staff due to the policy of mandatory vaccines, including staff who did not return when the policy was overturned.
In your view, what, if anything, is having the biggest impact on the ability to provide social care in the UK right now?
Our survey found the biggest impact of Covid is the infection and protection control measures that mean visits have to be limited, with 23.5% citing this as their top current issue*1. This is more acute in vulnerable adult services (28%) and children's services (25%).
For the elderly services subsector, the biggest impact is the cost of additional measures, which must now be funded out of their own resources. Twenty-six percent (26%) of survey respondents flagged this as their main issue.
Pauline Shepherd, CEO of the Independent Health and Care Providers in Northern Ireland, highlights a lack of planning and attention on the residential sector by decision makers who, she says, focused on hospitals.
The long-term impacts of Covid on the sector will take a long time to recover from, as people felt they were “trapped inside a care home”, Shepherd says.
The impact of Covid is multifaceted, incorporating other factors such as funding as well as the perception of the sector. And whilst much of the focus has been on elderly residential care, the impact has been felt across all services.
A report by the Homecare Association*2 shows a shift towards domiciliary care because of the pandemic. The increase in people choosing care in their home has led to a backlog in demand. Since 2020, the number of hours of homecare purchased by public sector organisations has increased significantly: 11% in the United Kingdom overall and 16% in Wales, 12% in Scotland, 11% in Northern Ireland and 10% in England.
24%
of respondents said the biggest impact of Covid was caused by the infection and protection control measures, meaning they had to limit visits
Wendy Cotton, Technical Line Manager - Social Welfare at Markel UK, agrees that the impact of Covid isn't over yet, and the impact on staffing, infection and protection control remains a concern of policyholders. However, she believes Covid is an opportunity for care organisations to learn and develop how they can best manage the risk of infections.
*1The survey was carried out in November 2022 and visiting restrictions have now been lifted.
*2The Homecare Deficit 2021: A report on the funding of older people's homecare across the United Kingdom, October 2021