Latest News from Everycare
Up to a quarter of the home care workers will be made to look for other jobs if Covid-19 vaccination becomes mandatory, a new survey reveals.
A six-week consultation was launched on 9 September to decide whether Covid and flu vaccinations should be made compulsory for home care workers and the NHS workforce, but according to the latest survey published by the Homecare Association, it reveals almost a quarter of home care providers thought they would lose over 25 per cent of their staff, “creating a risk” that home care will not be available for “tens of thousands of older and disabled people” who need support in their own home.
The survey also reported around a third of providers would expect to lose under 10 per cent of their workforce, while 40 per cent reported that they would lose between 10 and 24 per cent of their staff. Over 90 per cent thought it was certain or likely that recruitment will become harder if this comes into force and over 80 per cent thought they would need to dismiss staff as a result.
Dr Jane Townson, chief executive of the Homecare Association said: “While progress is being made where currently 83.2 per cent of home care workers have had the first dose of vaccine, and 73.7 per cent the second dose.
“We understand people who use services, and their families expect care workers to be vaccinated. Vaccination is also desirable to help protect the health and safety of care workers themselves.
“The Homecare Association strongly supports vaccination of the homecare workforce and we lobbied hard, right from the beginning, to ensure it was as easy as possible for home care workers to access vaccinations.”
The the full story visit the homecare.co.uk website
A recent report has highlighted the fact that in large areas of the UK local authorities are failing to pay care providers enough to provide a service that can break even, putting huge pressure on their ability to recruit and retain staff.
It means, despite losing staff faster than they can be replaced, companies are unable to raise wages, says the Homecare Association.
Low wages and feeling undervalued are key factors leading care staff to quit, says the report.
Councils say they do not have enough money to pay companies more.
The Homecare Association, which represents some 2,340 care providers, calculates the true minimum cost of providing an hour of homecare in the UK is £21.43.
To read the full story visit the BBC website.
Paralympian runner Jonnie Peacock, who was awarded an MBE in 2013, has revealed how he built a “solid foundation of resilience over the years” and says “this is what has kept me going”.
For him determination is key, with his parents embedding this in him from an early age.
As a child, living with his parents and sister just outside of Cambridgeshire, he had dreamt of being a footballer but he faced an obstacle that would change the course of his life forever. In 1985, at the age of five, Jonnie contracted meningitis which saw him lose a leg.
At school Jonnie threw himself into everything, playing all sports and not holding back. In the hospital that fitted his prosthetic leg he found out about disability sport and was directed to a Paralympic sports talent day. In 2012 Jonnie won a gold medal, crowned a Paralympian at only nineteen years of age.
He is now working with Qube Learning, which runs apprenticeships and traineeships, to help inspire others to actively change their lives despite any disadvantages they may have in life.
He says: “I have built a solid foundation of resilience over the years, and I believe this is what has kept me going. When I was still at studying, I struggled to walk when my stump was sore so my mum would help carry me to school, I didn’t want to give in.
Recent news headlines have reported dementia is the leading cause of death in the UK.
Dr Clare Walton from the Alzheimer’s Society research team looked at the reasons why deaths from dementia are on the rise and how the numbers compare with deaths due to other major diseases.
The latest death statistics for England and Wales, released by The Office for National Statistics (ONS), showed the number of people dying of dementia is steadily increasing year on year.
In contrast, the number of people dying from heart disease and stroke has been declining. In 2015, dementia overtook heart disease and stroke as the UK’s biggest cause of death. The percentage of all UK deaths from the top four leading causes in 2017 were dementia, heart disease, stroke and lung cancer.
