Editor’s Viewpoint: Are You Ready for Care Home Open Day?
I very much hope that one of the forthcoming highlights in your diary is Care Home Open Day!
I am sure you are all familiar with care home open day, however, for those who are not it is a UK wide initiative inviting care homes to open their doors to their local communities.
Thousands of care homes across the UK take part each year, welcoming the public and arranging events and activities that help to create lasting links between care home residents and their local communities, and it really is all about showing people what excellent care homes are really about, and how they can be at the centre of local communities, developing relationships across the generations.
If ever an industry desperately needed a feelgood factor, then the care industry is it. A very demanding and stressful industry to be in, with huge strains on resources, care home open day is a wonderful opportunity to showcase and promote the dedicated efforts of people working in the sector.
Lots of other activities coming up too, which will help the sector showcase its wonderful ability to enrich people’s lives, the Queen’s celebrations for her official birthday, European championship football the Olympics in Brazil all fantastic ways to put on an event/party and raise morale.
We here at The Carer will be delighted to report any activities that you are undertaking. So please feel free to call or email us and let us know what you are doing!
I recently read that the number of care home businesses falling into insolvency has increased by 18%, with 47 care home operators in England and Wales becoming insolvent last year, up from 40 in the previous year, according to research by accountancy specialists Moore Stephens
The research also shows that the number of care home businesses becoming insolvent has risen by 34% over three years, when there were 35 insolvencies in 2012/13.
Local authority spending on care homes continues to fall, with estimates suggesting that there will be a £2.9bn annual funding gap in social care by the end of the decade.
The Government’s introduction of a mandatory national living wage from April 2016 is set to further increase pressure on the care homes sector as staff costs will rise. I think everybody in the industry realises that the 2% council tax increase that local authorities can levy which goes toward social care is simply not enough, once again we hope to report on this issue more and more, and again would welcome your input, so please feel free to contact us and share your views.
Peter Adams
Editor of The Carer
