Fragility across the care system
During the Nuffield Trust Summit on 5th March, Baroness Casey addressed the challenges faced within the health and social care system that demand attention.
Baroness Casey — who met with the Centre for Care and our local partners in November last year – spoke about fragility across the care system. Notably, she spoke of fragility that exists within the care workforce. In comments that align with Centre for Care research, Baroness Casey referenced the poor working conditions for care workers. She highlighted that care workers are predominantly women with high instances of zero hours contracts in non residential positions and chronically low wages across the spectrum of roles.
Also discussed in her address was fragility in commissioned services caused by a high turnover of commissioned services struggling to cope financially (with low levels of funding from Local Authorities to publicly run services) while private equity services monopolise a fragile market, extracting profit from the public purse. She emphasised the need for Minister of State for Care Stephen Kinnock’s work on reforms to support the care workforce to gain momentum, which includes the introduction of a Fair Pay Agreement for care workers. Research at the Centre for Care reflects Baroness Casey’s recommendations for comprehensive changes to the organisation of the social care workforce.
Fragmentation between systems
Baroness Casey also referenced fragmentation between health services and the care system. For example, she spoke of early discharge in hospitals combined with long delays for care based adaptations in the home to manage complex conditions putting vulnerable people at risk. In our research, Centre colleagues have also advocated a more systemic approach to care, developing understandings of the complexity of the care ecosystem.
The cost of caring for unpaid carers
Reference was also made to the provision of unpaid care. Baroness Casey discussed the need for a better understanding of the cost of caring for unpaid carers, particularly for women balancing work and care. The Centre for Care is enthusiastic to support further investigation here. Researchers at the Centre, in collaboration with Carers UK, estimate the monetary value of unpaid care in the UK is £184 billion per year, but have also highlighted the financial impact of caring incurred across the lifecourse. We also recently published work into the gendered landscape of informal caregiving, highlighting the pressure of ‘sandwich’ carers – women who care for children and elderly relatives while often balancing work.
It’s clear from Baroness Casey’s address that fundamental changes are needed, with strong political backing, in order to produce a social care system that is well integrated and provides the right support for people in receipt of care, unpaid carers and for care workers. Baroness Casey emphasised that any considerations for a social care system must include insights from the public- the Centre for Care supports further consultation that might be required to inform and support ideas for reform.
About the authors
Lucy is an Impact Associate in the Centre for Care, working closely with Fay Benskin and academics to improve the impact of research in decision making processes for key stakeholders across government policy and third sector organisations.
Fay is the Impact Specialist in the Centre for Care, working with academics and external partners including stakeholders, voluntary sector organisations and policy makers to mobilise research findings to achieve impact beyond academia. Her role is to work with our researchers to plan for impact. Fay identifies partnerships and explores collaborative opportunities to ensure research findings are widely shared, to influence practice and policy.
Kate Hamblin is Professor of Social Policy and Director of the Centre for Care. She joined the University of Sheffield in 2018 to work on the Sustainable Care programme. She also currently leads the Centre for Care’s Digital Care research theme and is the UK Networks and geographical lead for the North and East-Midlands in the IMProving Adult Care Together (IMPACT) evidence implementation Centre. She is also the Policy and Practice Liaison lead for the NIHR School for Social Care Research at the University of Sheffield.
