Care home attitudes need to change

When many newspapers recently carried stories about hundreds of illegal immigrants working in care homes, one question was left unasked: why are so managers willing to employ them?

The answer, it seems, is that most British people don’t want to work in care homes.

Recently I attended a conference where I was told that the available social care workforce in one English town dropped by 10,000 after a Morrison’s superstore opened up nearby. To put it bluntly: most British people would rather work in a hypermarket stacking shelves than help to care for the elderly and disabled.

Unfortunately, it’s a scenario that has been repeated across the country and should surprise no one in the caring industry.

Working in social care requires dedication, but it’s low paid, the hours are long and the media publicity is almost wholly negative. It’s hardly an incentive to want to join the industry.

To state the obvious: a sea change in the perception of care homes and care home workers is needed. But the question is how to achieve it.

A good start would be to emphasise the positive work that goes on in many residential homes. For example, schemes such as Art for Age, in Kidlington in Oxfordshire, a joint project between the Glebe House care home and Beckley Primary School, showed what can be achieved. The public display of artwork late last year was a great success. See www.bettercaring.com/editorial/channel3.aspx?id=370 for the full story.

Highlighting the tireless work that many care home workers and managers put in to the job would also help the industry. This could help restore a sense of pride in their work.

As well as this, pay rises for care home workers would help to retain the best staff and provide an incentive for others to progress.

Many care homes, especially those run by the local council, operate on tight budgets, with little in the pot for pay increases. With the government showing little sign of increasing funding for social care, staffing concerns and adverse media publicity are probably set to continue.