We need to support our health and social care system
We need to support our health and social care system
Do you remember when we Clapped for Carers?
UK health and social care systems are world leaders in so many ways. Whether it’s leading in medicine and treatments, to providing a social justice-based social care, the system does a great job in supporting the health and additional needs of some of the most vulnerable individuals in society. However, there is no doubt that UK health and social care systems are experiencing significant stress. Virtually every week we are hearing new initiatives from political parties about how they will save the system, or how record amounts of money are being put into the NHS.
The health and social care workforce face difficulties at almost every turn. They are often blamed when serious and distressing events occur, despite doing everything in their power to support those experiencing distress. They have difficulties in workload, satisfaction, looking after extreme events … all of which is against the backdrop of UK Covid lockdowns, where we were implored to stand on our doorstep and ‘Clap for Carers’ all while they were being disproportionately affected by Covid.
The Political Blame Game
In late 2023, the former UK prime minister stated that “we were making progress on bringing the overall numbers [of those on NHS waiting lists] down—what happened? We had industrial action and we got strikes”. Despite NHS waiting lists increasing steadily since 2012, with obvious increases during and following the end of Covid lockdowns, and December 2023 having some of the longest waiting lists ever (although there had been a small decline in that month), the blame is on the workforce for waiting lists that had been increasing year on year since 2012.
Far too often health and social care workers are blamed. The decision of the Conservative government to prevent social care workers from bringing their families to this country from abroad, for example, suggests that the immigration which is needed to keep the care system afloat is a problem. Indeed, nearly one in five of the social care sector are international, and The King’s Fund suggests that without them the sector will struggle to function. As such, governmental actions have inevitably had knock-on effects on the availability of care provision in this country.
We need a political system that supports and guides health and social care workers—not one which demonises and detracts from them.
The Organisational Effects on the Workforce
When health and social care professions go on strike, evidence from studies across the health and social care (and wider public services) sectors suggest that pay is only one of the myriad issues fuelling their discontent—even though we have seen teachers and social workers face amongst the worst fall in wages of all professions in the UK.
What would make more of a difference is decent support, at a level which provides the resources they need to make a difference.
Perhaps amongst the most damning evidence comes from national surveys and research which look at the impacts of organisational working conditions on the health and social care workforce. For example, since 2018/19 we have seen that social workers have among the worst working conditions of any occupation and profession in the country. These conditions have been consistently poor, and are undoubtedly contributing to the continually high levels of sickness absence and high turnover rates in the sector. These conditions are typified by high caseloads and long working hours. For example, Ravalier found that social workers worked, on average, over 8 hours per week more than they were contracted to. The picture is similar in other social and health care roles.
I would bravely suggest that, even if our health and social care workers could have regular decent wage increases, what would make more of a difference is decent support, at a level which provides the resources they need to make a difference. After all, study after study has shown that this is why they join the sector—to make a difference in the lives of the ill and vulnerable people who live in their very communities.
So what do we need to do to support our health and social care workforce? Well, firstly, claps don’t work. While they started as a nice gesture, they do not make up for the political, societal, and/or organisational issues highlighted above. We need better investment and support of the workforce which is so vital to the UK and beyond. We need to allow health and social care workers to have the resources they need to make a real difference. This will reduce turnover, improve satisfaction, and reduce sickness absence.
Featured image by cottonbro studio via Pexels.