PEN CONFERENCE 9 JUNE 2015 FEEDBACK FROM THE WORKSHOP WHAT ELSE CAN WE DO TO ATTRACT, RETAIN AND DEVELOP PEOPLE IN THE CARE SECTOR?

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1 PEN CONFERENCE 9 JUNE 2015 FEEDBACK FROM THE WORKSHOP WHAT ELSE CAN WE DO TO ATTRACT, RETAIN AND DEVELOP PEOPLE IN THE CARE SECTOR? The feedback from this workshop will inform the Workforce Strategy 1. How can we attract people to the care sector? Summary of work so far, using community-based personal care sector as example Our focus so far has been mainly on community-based personal care, due to the specific challenges in this area. In May 2015 we have recently launched a new microsite This is a new website to promote careers in care including filmed case studies of care workers in Devon. This has been launched alongside an online advertising campaign using Facebook and other popular websites. We have also created a recruitment portal which allows providers to advertise their jobs free of charge. This is available to both community and residential care. The recruitment portal went live in February 2015 and has had approximately 9,500 hits with over 100 jobs advertised and 150 people applying. The microsite, which links to the recruitment portal, is being promoted through Care Champions in Job Centres, work clubs, libraries, children s centres etc. and by a direct link from the website, which attracts approximately 47,000 hits per month. We would like your input on what else we can do, thinking specifically about these key areas: Ages attracting a whole range of people from apprentices to older people, including the newly retired or people who have been made redundant, with valuable life experience Carers or former carers, who have valuable experience Males care workers Forces families and ex Service Personnel. Any other groups. What else can we do to attract people to the care sector and promote care as a career? Lots of discussion around the benefits of recruiting older people in to the workforce who have life experience and often a very good work ethic. Some providers promote their organisation to this age group through parish magazines, local press, and shop windows in their community, for both voluntary and paid positions. Partnership working with local colleges and universities using students who are undertaking health and social care qualifications or nursing degrees as bank staff to cover staff holidays, particularly during school holidays which can be problematic. Care Champions in job centres could encourage job seekers to state in their application form that they have spoken to a Care Champion. Several providers reported the issue of lots of JCP applicants who are applying to tick a box and aren t interested in working in care. Care Champions are keen to recruit the right people into care; hence applicants stating this in their application would help providers to feel more confident with the calibre of applicants. Lots of discussion around male workers. Many organisations don t have problems recruiting males but some clients choose not want to be cared for by male care workers, particularly for personal care. 1

2 Using television and radio to promote discussion around the cost of this. More promotion to recruit overseas workers, several discussions around overseas staff and their positive work ethic. One provider had completed an overseas recruitment drive and successfully recruited a number of overseas staff. Encourage a change in perception of overseas workers by many clients. One provider reported a college incorrectly informing their students about the entry requirements to care work e.g. stating that level 2 qualifications required. Action for us: work with local colleges to ensure they have the correct information and direct to the microsite. Career development offer progress within the organisation e.g. Senior Support Worker posts. Career progression opportunities to be available outside university. Working in partnership with the NHS career development and guaranteed interviews. Including and attracting adults with learning disabilities Including and attracting volunteers Including and attracting people who become fit for work, e.g. people who have previously suffered mental health problems (benefits of using PLUSS) Ex service personnel one provider reported recruiting a number of ex service personnel. Targeting organisations in the area that are known to be making redundancies that are likely to employ people with the same/similar values. Including and attracting working parents with the increase of funded childcare for 3 and 4 year olds from 2017 parents with younger children may be more available / flexible to work in care. Working with companies to provide lower rate car loans for care staff to enable them to access transport which is a huge barrier. Many car workers who drive cannot afford to buy a car. Schemes to support care workers to learn to drive covering / helping with the cost. Working with insurance companies so that they do not penalise care staff for high business mileage. Attracting people from other parts of the UK where unemployment is higher. Unemployment is very low in Devon and those people who are currently unemployed are often not the right people we would want to attract to the care sector. Preferential housing for care staff. Working with local housing associations to offer accommodation as a priority for care staff, or more affordable housing. One provider offers staff accommodation one flat and house at per week (bills etc. included) 2

3 2. How can we retain workers in the sector? Challenges Skills and knowledge of staff Good staff are leaving to go into better career opportunities within the NHS Paperwork linked to the new Care Certificate and the need to assess staff More specialised services Lack of career opportunities for staff Pay, benefits and incentives Pay levels are fundamental Pay for travel (this will be in new contract) Have a sliding pay scale Pay needs to be properly funded by DCC Use a bonus scheme, such as Refer a Friend Bonus scheme / pay progression Paid breaks / food Driving incentives Support with the theory test for driving Pay for alternate driving lessons (1 provider is doing this) Loan money for a car (1 provider is doing this) check HRMC rules Training and development Give extra responsibility to staff who show initiative Staff training for extra skills Job swap offer new experiences Individual recognition by leadership Supporting staff to be innovative Recognise good people skills Good induction and initial training Undertake a skills audit to match skills set to roles to use people s talents Make sure the person specification is right, so people know what is expected of them 3

4 Offer progression in the organisation through appraisals and offer training, mentoring etc. and personal development. Shared training identify trusted training that is needed and share across organisations. A rolling programme of training to be available especially for smaller providers. Include more specialist training as well as mandatory e.g. Mental Capacity Act, epilepsy, etc. Suggest that DCC advertise training on a training portal (similar to the new recruitment portal), including spare capacity on training courses, run by providers or acute hospitals. This will encourage collaboration and will reduce costs for providers. Support and Wellbeing Importance of team meetings and regular supervision Importance of good support Peer buddies and team hubs to offer peer support Look after the mental health of your staff Provide emotional support and time for reflection Wellbeing initiatives Managers to support staff Provide support for managers Be a supportive employer but challenge when you need to be fair Work with families Carers groups to address the issues of carers / families Good management and leadership Respect your staff Be nice and flexible Listen to your staff, have regular supervision, appraisal and team meetings, handover meetings etc. and an open door policy Strong leadership with integrity Organisational culture 4

5 Job Design Make the job more attractive! Stop boredom by doing fun activities and using staff skills, hobbies, talents and interests. Work with staff to resolve the issues with shift timings and co-ordinate arrangements/ rotas to minimise travel. Limit hours with a particular client if they are challenging - Flexible working Clubs for staff and service users using people s skills and interests Activity leaders involvement in different projects Recognition of the value of Care Workers Positive media campaign Proud to care Campaign against the negative image of care Have a carer of the month give flowers as a prize (though there could be issues relating to fairness etc.) Little things appreciation shown e.g. a letter of thanks Perks e.g. Christmas party / jolly Devon Care Awards to celebrate the role of excellent Care Workers Recognition - ensure all staff feel valued regardless of their role. Team member of the month to be nominated by the staff team Community Resources Providers recognised the benefits of making use of voluntary group activities and volunteers. People with learning disabilities may want to pursue activities such as football or going to a festival. Whilst providers can use staff who are interested have this as a hobby or passion and utilise their gifts and talents, but this can be costly, hence the use of volunteers/community. Gig Buddies is a charity/organisation where people who like going to gigs can pair up with able-bodied people to support them. The gist of the discussion was that service users who are bored will be harder to support and staff who are bored also need to be encouraged to do new things and get motivated! 5

6 3. Career Pathways and Skills for the Future Summary of work so far, using community-based personal care sector as example A team of provider representatives (New Key, St Luke s Care, Bluebird Care, Allied Healthcare and Support-ed Limited), NHS staff (Exeter, Northern Devon and Torbay) and DCC staff is working together to develop shared career pathways to attract high calibre staff into community-based personal care roles, with the opportunities to progress into other health and social care roles. The film clips on the microsite, feature Saskia, who is progressing from community-based personal care into nursing and Joanna, who would like to progress into midwifery. Another film clip shows Stella, who has moved from a role as a radiographer into community-based personal care, which she combines with her sewing hobby. How can we develop career pathways to attract high calibre applicants to the sector? Challenges Some care workers hop between different providers, which results in a very poor return on investment in training, induction, recruitment etc. Care providers do not want a one-way ticket with all their staff moving into health roles. 1 provider expressed concern about losing hours for staff, whilst they undertook Access courses to go into nursing. Some owners of residential homes or community-based care providers could be stuck in their ways and not open to developing career pathways for their staff. They would rather keep their care workers in this role. Positive aspects of developing career pathways One provider is working with South Devon Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust to investigate a guaranteed interview for nursing, after a period of 2 years working in community-based personal care. There were lots of examples of good career pathways that providers offer: Example 1 Care workers (Level 2) Senior care worker (Level 3) or Co-ordinator (Business Admin Level 3) Team Leader Deputy (RMA levels) Manager (Level 5) Example 2 Community Support Workers (Level 1) Interveners (Levels 2 & 3) Trainers Example 3 Apprentice Support Worker Senior Support Worker Team Leader or Administrator Operational Manager 6

7 Some providers offer placements in community or residential settings to nurses in acute hospitals and/or social work students to help them to have a better appreciation of the work of those in the community. A number of providers could see the benefits of offering Healthcare Assistants in acute settings and those involved in hospital discharge, placements in community or residential settings. Providers were keen to receive something in return (e.g. free specialist training from acute hospitals) in return for upskilling care workers into healthcare assistant or nursing roles. There is a benefit of offering summer work to nursing students in community or residential care work. This enables their care workers could work flexibly and take time off to care for children during the summer holidays. This also increases the understanding of working across different settings and seeing the challenges of each role and how the roles impact on each other. How can we develop the skills of care workers? Recognition of the need for increasingly specialised training, as more care workers are undertaking skilled work, such as peg feeding, previously carried out by district nurses etc. Training from District Nurses, Physiotherapists and Occupational therapists to upskill care workers. Recognition of the changing perception of care. There are now more demands placed on care workers, particularly in terms of delivery and diversity. Providers need to gain a better understanding of the Care Certificate (DCC and Skills for Care are offering providers free training in the Care Certificate on 22 June in Coaver. For further information, please southern@skillsforcare.org.uk or click here). There is a need to develop the numeracy and literacy skills of care workers, particularly because of the need administer medication and to take good records. A number of providers are accessing free numeracy and literacy training up to GCSE level (provided by Learn Devon, Westward Pathfinder etc.) However, this cannot be accessed if workers have not lived in the UK for 3 years or if they have an overseas degree. It s important to develop communication skills, confidence and resilience to deal with a variety of challenges in the role of care worker. Drama therapy can be beneficial to train care workers, enablers and to support older people and the learning disabled. Concern that DCC is not paying a sufficiently high hourly rate to encourage providers to carry out specialised training. What is the return on investment for providers, who send staff on specialist training courses? Benefit of on-line training and live stream training, which reduces costs (apart from staff time). In Manchester, the New Careers scheme enables people who have come through the criminal justice system successfully to become good support workers. There are some real benefits of care workers working with Active Devon and Public Health to encourage people to have healthy lifestyles (healthy weight, physical activity etc.). We should also consider developing the skills of Personal Assistants, volunteers and carers. 7