As of the week commencing Monday 22 February 2021, the government has set out a timeline for the easing of COVID-19 restrictions. This guidance represents progress in the battle against the virus, on the back of a successful vaccine roll-out programme.
The unfair demonisation of agency staff
Research from The King’s Fund revealed that one in five hospital finance chiefs believe the incoming cap on agency staff will damage the quality of care provision. According to the directors, the cap could directly affect their ability to keep enough nurses and doctors on their wards to meet the needs of patients, something that is totally unacceptable.
From April this year, the NHS will be able to pay no more than a 55% premium on the salary of a permanent doctor or nurse for a shift. The government and policymakers hope that this will end what they see as agencies ‘ripping off’ [...]
NHS trust overspends
Figures released this week paint a dire picture of the NHS’ finances at trust-level. According toThe Guardian, Barts NHS Trust in London is on course to run up a deficit of £134.9 million this year – the largest of any in the history of the National Health Service. Other trusts in and around the capital are also in serious trouble, with London North West Healthcare and King’s College each expected to be £88.3m and £65m in the red respectively. What is even more concerning is the rate at which these overspends are growing: Barts’ deficit has grown by 69% [...]
The advent of technology in social care
Every year, technology plays an increasingly important part in our working lives. On-the-go email, cloud systems like GoogleDocs, and a variety of other apps, both mainstream and bespoke, have become fundamental to countless businesses across the globe. The social care sector has not escaped this digital advent, and its usage has brought in a multitude of benefits to clients and carers alike.
Those working in the sector cite a range of benefits to working with online reporting systems to improve efficiency and care quality, for example, by increasing communication between patients and their families, providing vital frontline support and helping individuals plan [...]
The hidden cost of dementia care
A new report from Alzheimer’s Research UK illustrates how the condition has a huge impact on not only
Home care – A Solution to the Funding Crisis
While the health and social care sectors continue to face financial ruin, the latest spending review from the Chancellor has offered little support to resolve the crisis. Although George Osborne announced that local councils now have the power to raise funds for social care provision for the elderly, this does not provide an acceptable answer to the funding crisis. As part of an overall effort to reach a plausible resolution to this crisis, policy makers should look to home care as an alternative solution.
It was reported over the weekend that the council scheme will widen the huge spending provision differences between wider [...]
Osborne Faces Funding Pressure
Chancellor George Osborne is under increased pressure to raise social care funding to avoid a financial crisis that has been heightened as a result of his decision to raise the minimum wage. Research from the Resolution Foundation has found that Osborne’s decision to raise the minimum wage to £9 an hour by 2020 will cost the social care sector £2.3bn. Consequentially, the public would be responsible for footing around £1.4bn of the costly bill because two-thirds of social care provision is funded through local government. Given that local governments have been left £20bn worse off following budget cuts, where this money will come [...]
A new social care tax
Labour leadership candidate Andy Burnham has recently announced that under his leadership Labour would seek to bring in a tax to fund social care. While the details of this proposal remain scarce, it would look to stem the issue of rising costs in the sector which is threatening to cripple public finances and bring care provision to a halt. The move will undoubtedly prove controversial if past Labour social care proposals are anything to go by, but bold moves seem increasingly necessary given the sector’s perilous finances.
Although the country’s general economic outlook appears positive, the finances of many key services are anything [...]
Deferring the cap; closing the gap
The government announced last week that it will defer the capping of care costs until 2020. This will grant providers and local authorities a much needed break following five years of substantial cuts under the coalition. Following recommendations from the Dilnot Commission in 2011, plans were in place to put a £72,000 cap on the care liabilities of individuals, after which local councils will be responsible for the costs incurred. Under the government’s original timeline, the Act was due to come into force in April 2016.
Capping residential care costs for individuals is undoubtedly a noble aim, and stories about the vulnerable being [...]
Overpriced, but undervalued
The role of third party agencies in the delivery of health care has recently generated plenty of publicity, with much of the debate focusing on whether agencies represent good value for taxpayers’ money. We are paying what appears to be an extraordinary amount of money for interim staff, with an article recently published in The Telegraph highlighting the £3.3 billion bill for temporary workers.
News that revenues at Britain’s ten largest agencies have increased by 40% over the last three years has provoked minor outrage, with many British people generally seeing profiteering in the health sector as being at odds with the spirit and [...]