The challenges of recruiting and retaining carers and the importance of supporting them with adequate training and mentorship

Jane:
I'm Jane Townson, chief executive of the Home Care Association. I've been in this role for just under four years, and prior to that, I was the CEO of a Not For Profit care provider. We had supported living for people with disabilities and operated thirty care homes. So that was quite useful experience across different settings. My first career was as a scientist, so I spent 14 years in R&D in blue chip bioscience companies, working for companies like AstraZeneca and Syngenta. My final role being global head of Bioscience research for Syngenta, which is one of the world's largest agri businesses.

Shaked:
In your perspective, what is the main mission of the Home Care Association?

Jane:
We want as many of us as possible to live well at home and flourish in our communities. Many people can be supported at home in different ways, and it might be light touch to begin with, a bit of equipment, a bit of technology, occasional visits, being connected to communities and, you know, maybe then later on more intensive support if required, right through to end of life.

shaked:
We can see not as positive image of carers today and therefore we see also a struggle in recruitment and retention. Where do you think we're heading in 2023, in these terms?

Jane:
It's a lot of emotional work as well as physical work, and it doesn't suit everybody. And I think sometimes people don't know whether they're going to like it or not until they actually try. So there's always going to be some churn at the beginning, and most of the turnover is in the first six months. But there are quite a substantial number of people that really stay for a very long time. And sometimes they will go on and train to become a paramedic or a nurse, and I think that's really positive because it's always good. I've changed career as I’ve described, It's good to go and get different experience and to build your skills, so we should look on that as a success.

Shaked:
In terms of care providers, what they should be focusing on?

Jane:
The challenge that employers have is that the income that they receive from councils just isn't sufficient to be able to make an employment offer that you’d would really want to. Often the care workers feel they don't have enough time with people to really meet their needs and that is what causes them stress. They want to go away feeling that they've done a good job, that they've been able to contribute, and also that they have some autonomy because after all, they're the people that know the people that they're supporting the best. I often talk about the ABC of employee experience and that autonomy, that ability to make decisions that improve things for the people that you're supporting, that sense of belonging, being part of something, being supported that your employer cares about you to the same extent that you care for the people that you're giving care to.

Shaked:
In practice, when the carer is out there alone and they don't receive mentorship for a month and training for a couple of weeks, they don't feel those values. How do you think providers can bridge that gap and have this mindset of ABC?

Jane:
Digital solutions have helped a lot. We actually gave all of them company phones and then that meant that they could use WhatsApp to communicate with each other, which made a big difference. They could easily communicate with the office, whereas if you're in a hurry and you're trying to make a call and no one is picking up the phone, that is very frustrating as well. Things like missed calls went down to virtually nothing because they know that the roaters were updated in real time. If there are any changes. I'd like to see more multidisciplinary team working on the ground with health care professionals in places. And that means that you can use the care work, you can use the entire workforce in the most efficient way so that you don't have to rely on more expensive nurses or consultants, the homecare workers can do the bulk of the support and only call in the clinicians when required, or if something changes or something unexpected happens they've got someone to go to.

Shaked:
Do we see a lot of the workers today, the care staff are more and more Generation Z?

Jane:
I just don't think that as a sector, we've done enough to be at the school careers fairs Some industries like engineering for years and years, they funded people to go to university and gave them work experience and vacations, And then when they graduated a job, if they wanted to, you know, why don't we do that?
In a larger organization It's quite easy to come up with career structures, and you can move into HR, you can move into IT, in a big company. It's just like any business. If you don't want to stay in care, you can go off and learn some other business skills, so I think if younger people realized how many opportunities there are, it would be more attractive.

Shaked:
We see 53% of carers leave in the first six months. Why do they leave?

Jane:
I think it's that feeling of not being able to meet people's needs. You just feel that society doesn't recognize the complexity and doesn't really value those roles.

Shaked:
What is the matter with New Zealand's approach for homecare?

Jane:
They are trying to focus more on outcomes rather than time and task. They're trying to move all of it to being more outcome focused, it's not straightforward and they are the first to admit that in the implementation they've made some mistakes, But the thought process and the way that they've gone about it has got logic to it. So they're starting from understanding the needs of the population and in quite a bit of detail. So they've got all these quality indicators that they assess people and assign scores to, how many people are dependent, through to completely independent, and within that, what their particular health needs are, And then that helps to identify what skills and competencies and qualifications the care workers need to meet those needs.

Shaked:
What are the three main things that care providers should be focusing on this year?

Jane:
Focus on retention, keeping that employee engagement, supporting the workforce as best they can, trying to persuade local authorities to increase the fee rate so that we can then pass that money on in wages, because that's going to make a big difference. Then the digital transformation of home care needs to continue. And then the third is about building relationships with the NHS and other partners in the system.

Shaked:
What would be a piece of advice or key tip for a new care provider?

Jane:
Come and join the Homecare Association because we have a great community of providers that are supportive of each other. We have many materials and practical support and tools and guidance available. If we join forces, we have a louder voice. We have stronger influence to change the way that the government, central government, local government, the regulators, everybody kind of thinks about home care. So safety in numbers. You know, we've got to stand together to make what matters stand out.