National media coverage for homecare w/c 15th Nov '21
Homecare has enjoyed some national media coverage this week courtesy of the Economist, the Sun and the I paper. Extracts and links to the full stories can be found below. In the stories we've been quoted in we've used the opportunity to promote our Homecare Deficit report and raise awareness of the challenges which faces homecare as we enter into 2022. We are always looking for providers to volunteer to be case studies and interviewed by the media. If you are interested please get in touch.
How much is the local Amazon warehouse paying? Raina Summerson used to ask that question a couple of times a year. Now her firm checks most weeks, such is the competition for workers. In parts of the country she has raised pay at Agincare (Homecare Association members), the care provider she runs, to £11 ($15) an hour from around £9.50 before covid-19 struck. Even so carers are scarce: “We are turning away work every day in every one of our locations.”
NHS faces a bleak winter | The Economist
— Jane Townson (@drjanetownson) November 19, 2021
The penny seems to be dropping on the link between availability of social care and NHS ability to reduce waiting lists & reduce ambulance queues.
@homecareassn @Agincare
https://t.co/Hk9xUdFb9a
“If the care is withdrawn, who’s going to care for [individuals], where do they go?” said Dr Townson, CEO of the Homecare Association. “Will they just end up back in hospital where there are no beds anyway? Will people be left to die alone in urine-soaked beds at home?” She strongly supported vaccination to help protect against serious illness among the home care workforce but took issue with the mandate.
“We argued right from the beginning that persuasion and informed consent would be preferable to compulsion. The reason is that the people who are hesitant have genuine fears, but very few of them are hardcore anti-vaxxers,” Ms Townson told i.
Many people have nobody to look after them, said @drjanetownson @homecareassn 'If they do have family it might be a partner who’s 99 - you can’t expect somebody that is old and frail hoisting their loved one and looking for them if they go wandering with dementia' @theipaper https://t.co/6hzWLqfsHq
— Serina Sandhu (@SerinaSandhu1) November 17, 2021
“For too long, people working in social care have been unsung heroes," says @ashcrofts of @AnchorLaterLife in @TheSun. Homecare Association members @ConsultusCare @BluebirdCare @Homeinsteaduk @cera_care all feature in this piece: https://t.co/qiHQ583LBU
— Homecare Association (@homecareassn) November 19, 2021
