02 Jun 2023The COVID-19 pandemic had a wave of unprecedented challenges for the UK's long-term care (LTC) workforce. The consequences of these challenges made national headlines during the early pandemic, when approximately 25,000 older individuals were discharged from hospitals to LTC settings without adequate testing or quarantine measures. This oversight, combined with lacking personal protective equipment (PPE) for LTC staff, had tragic conequences. The rapid transmission of COVID-19 within care settings resulted in a staggering increase in deaths and excess mortality, disproportionately affecting care homes.
The Retention and Sustainability of Social Care Workforce (RESSCW) study, led by Professor Shereen Hussein (LSHTM) and Dr Florin Vadean (Kent) and funded by the Health Foundation, aimed to help social care providers, commissioners, regulators, and policymakers understand the specific organisational and individual drivers of staff retention in the social care sector in the UK. Having started in 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic began during the RESSCW study. The study team supported by the Health Foundation were able to expand its aims to examine the impact of COVID-19 on workforce retention and sustainability.
ARC North Thames supported the study via the Research Partnership Team - a multidisciplinary group of senior researchers, who provide methodological and subject expertise to research to enhance its potential for impact and implementation. Dr Eirini-Christina Saloniki (ARC NT, UCL) said: "As a co-investigator on the project, I was responsible for the analyses of the COVID-19 survey data. It was a great experience to be part of such impactful work."
Findings
The findings from this study shed light on the profound impact of abuse on the well-being of workers, the organisation they belong to, and the entire sector. The implications are far-reaching and emphasise the urgent need to address these issues. Findings include:
- A strong correlation between abuse and a poor work-life balance, irrespective of the type of abuse experienced
- A significant number of LTC workers frequently experience feelings of tension, unease and depression from their work, which detrimentally affects their overall health and wellbeing
- Workers’ intention to leave the sector was only about half as prevalent as the intention to quit their current employer voluntarily within the following year.
Find out more in a special impact video, which highlights the considerable strain the social care workforce has endured due to the COVID-19 pandemic:
The video shows the various forms of abuse experienced by care workers in 2021 and their differential effects by nationality and ethnicity call for increased support mechanisms to limit such incidents, and care workers’ voices to be heard. The increased demand for staff to work additional hours during such pressured times – for many without additional pay – brings to light continued concerns about the unprecedented working conditions in the sector and stresses that care workers’ wellbeing should be at the forefront of any future agendas.
The team have also authored a blog on The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Long-Term Care Workforce: Evidence from the United Kingdom. Read it here.
