Report Reveals Staffing in UK Care Sector at Breaking Point
Care England and OneAdvanced, one of the UK’s largest providers of sector specific software for business, have today released their Care Trends Report 2024 which highlights the ongoing skills challenge in the care sector. The report found that 58% of applications received by care organisations are from unsuitable candidates and almost half (49%) no visibility to adequately staff specific times of the day/week.
Following on from the 2023 report, the data shows that the care sector in the UK is still facing a significant workforce shortage which is supported by figures published by Skills for Care which state 9.9% (152,000) of posts in the UK remain unfilled.
OneAdvanced commissioned the Care Trends Report to understand the specific challenges care and support providers are facing and how they plan to address them. The survey took responses from 404 Care home owners, CEOs, MDs, CFOs and COOs in domiciliary care, residential care, supported living, extra care and retirement living.
The results also found that not only are care providers having issues with rostering existing staff, 31% say they have a low number of applications for open vacancies. Salary also remains a concern with 40% of those working in the sector unhappy with pay while almost 35% of organisations have difficulty in providing the hours at the right time of day that employees request. Alarmingly, almost a quarter (23%) of those questioned admitted that payroll errors are high, undermining any employee retention strategies they have in place.
The survey findings further underline the problems facing these organisations with 43% saying their current IT systems are not adequate, potentially putting clients at risk, while more than one-third (34%) find it difficult to collate key event information, such as accidents, incidents, and safeguarding information. In fact, the survey reveals that three-quarters (75%) of care provider organisations have developed their own manual processes such as spreadsheets to provide sufficient visibility of their business.
On a positive note, the report shows that leaders are less stressed now than in 2023, with 39% of leaders said they feel stressed and unable to cope some or all the time, a significant drop from the 62% in 2023.
Martin Green, Chief Executive Officer, Care England commented “This report highlights some alarming disparities between the technology that care provider organisations need for greater operational efficiency, and the digital systems they currently have in place. There is massive scope for digital systems to automate processes, saving many hours of repetitive manual work, reducing errors, driving higher levels of compliance and quality of care.”
He goes on to say; “The care sector is at a crossroads, and it is imperative that the right decisions are made now, to steer it along the path that leads to greater efficiency and higher productivity, making the best use of the precious resources we have to ensure a professional and human-centred service that is fit for purpose now and into the future.”
“This is our second annual report into the state of the UK care sector and the findings highlight a sector in continuing crisis” said Ric Thompson, Senior Vice President – Health and Care, at OneAdvanced.
“Worryingly, not much has changed since last year’s survey. Staffing, rostering, void management, lack of adequate digital tools, and reliance on manual processes, continue to impede the efforts of care provider organisations, ensuring they are not operating efficiently and making an already tough job even tougher. It has never been more important to tighten up processes and practices. The tough economic climate does not leave much room for wastefulness and adherence to slow, manual processes. With budgets becoming tighter every year, providers are continually under pressure to achieve more, with less.”
Recently OneAdvanced announced the launch of OneAdvanced Care, a software portfolio designed to bring together the end-to-end processes that power their care businesses enabling carers to spend more time caring.
OneAdvanced has been developing and deploying healthcare technology solutions for 20 years and is committed to working with the care sector to continue to deliver the tools and support they need to give the highest quality of care.
The OneAdvanced Care team will be exhibiting at the Care Show London on 24-25 April 2024 at EXCEL LONDON in Hall N7-N10 on stand J62.
Andy Croudace, Innovation Director at OneAdvanced will be hosting an exclusive overview of the 2024 Care Trends, where he will unveil the latest insights gathered from UK care leaders representing domiciliary, residential, and supported living care organisations. “Navigating tomorrow’s care landscape: 2024 care trends” will take place on April 25th at 14.15 in the Technology theatre.
