Carer’s spotlight
28 November 2024
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The Managing Director of Sutton Coldfield-based Nexus Care Services has expressed his disappointment regarding the Government holding back promised funding for the care sector.
Half of a £500 million funding package promised by the Government to help the adult care sector is being held back, despite the recent unveiling of £2 billion of grants over the next two years.
The care sector has a recruitment crisis with one in ten posts vacant and staff shortages rising by more than 50 per cent over the last year, which this funding was intended to resolve.
“The decision by the Government to hold back half of the £500 million promised to fund staff shortages in the care sector shows the Government yet again backtracking on their promise to adequately fund the care sector. It is very disheartening,” says Tinga Umera, Managing Director of Nexus Care Services.
The comments come as the BBC reports that over half a million people are waiting for care places and around one in seven people currently occupying NHS hospitals are awaiting discharge and do not need to be in hospital.
Nexus Care Services, which provide tailored home care across the Sutton Coldfield, Lichfield and Tamworth areas, has already made concerted efforts to encourage new carers into the sector by offering above-average sector pay and career progression to their staff.
But as Tinga Umera pointed out, while the care sector is doing its best to offer care services and rewarding careers, these efforts need to be matched with adequate Government funding.
“We have great working relationships with local authorities. We have the capacity to provide tailored home care with a dedicated, well-trained staff of carers. We stand ready to help people of all ages who need help care at home,” said Tinga. “People belong at home not in hospital beds. The Government’s current policy is classic short-termism. Money they are not spending on care, ends up costing the NHS more instead. It is a zero-sum game.”
The need to find a resolution to the crisis in the care sector crisis was a recent topic of discussion on Nexus’ monthly podcast, Nexus Care Matters. Each month management staff from Nexus tackle a topical subject and drill down to find solutions to issues affecting the care sector.
