Care workers urged to share Covid-19 pandemic experiences in UK poll

Care workers are being asked to share their experiences of working in the Covid-19 pandemic in a UK-wide survey.

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The research is funded by the Health Foundation and involves academics at the University of Kent, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University College London and City University of London.

Researchers want to hear from care workers about how the pandemic is affecting their experience of working in the sector.

The survey is funded by the Health Foundation and has been put together by researchers at the University of Kent, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University College London, and City University of London.

The survey respondents will be entered into a prize draw to win an Amazon voucher worth £50.

Previous research looking at the pandemic’s impact on the care workforce involved interviews with 296 care workers in July/ August 2020 by academics at the University of Kent.

Academics Ann-Marie Towers (Reader in Social Care, Centre for Health Services Studies, University of Kent and Grace Collins (Research Officer, Personal Social Services Research Unit, University of Kent has stated in their research findings published earlier this year: "There was a sense that the social care sector felt abandoned in the early months of the pandemic".

Referring to domiciliary care workers, one interviewee said: “…many of them were very anxious because nobody really knew very much about the virus.

“And many other professionals like GPs and district nurses and social workers, the national policy was for them to stop doing face-to-face visits, so homecare workers found themselves being the only people out there actually seeing people.”

Government guidance was ‘a shambles’

Frontline care workers also highlighted a lack of understanding of the social care sector by central government, with policy guidance focused on the NHS and reducing pressures there.

One care worker said: “In terms of the guidance, I mean it was chaotic at the time and retrospectively it looks like a shambles really.

“There was some of that which was avoidable and some of that which probably wasn’t avoidable. So the bits that were avoidable were assuming that guidance that worked in the NHS would work in social care, not having an understanding of how social care environments actually operate.”

The research highlighted that care provider representative bodies, such as the National Care Forum, offered support to owners and managers.

But with “limited personal and financial resources, SMEs were not able to offer care workers comparable packages of support to those offered by some national organisations”.

For example, “stakeholders told us that the larger franchises and national organisations were able to use their structure and size to their advantage. Head offices read government policy updates and guidelines and disseminated these to service managers and staff."

How well organisations supported the wellbeing of frontline care workers varied enormously. Stakeholders from small/medium sized enterprises (SMEs) “told us their focus had been firefighting – sourcing PPE, interpreting government guidance and keeping clients and staff safe”.

A care provider said: “We should probably be having more conversations about how we support staff better.

"It’s very hard when you’re facing into a second wave because, again, your focus is on how are we going to get through it? But… I think, certainly from our point of view, we’re thinking much more about staff wellbeing and welfare than we did in the first wave. But there’s still work to do. “ Ann-Marie Towers and Grace Collins said: “The Health Foundation have funded us to undertake a two-wave, panel survey of the social care workforce in 2021, exploring the impact of COVID-19 on frontline staff.

“This UK-wide survey builds on the pulse survey we conducted in summer 2020 and the interviews with stakeholders.”

As well as exploring the impact of COVID-19 on care workers’ job satisfaction, well-being and intention to quit, the researchers “will be giving staff space to tell us what supported their wellbeing the most during the pandemic, in their own words." They will try to find out whether it was training and equipment to keep them safe, or helplines and counselling to support their mental health, podcasts and apps to aid relaxation, or mostly the emotional support from friends, family and colleagues.”

SMEs and those reliant on LA contracts 'spent the year firefighting'

The academics said: “The true impact of COVID-19 on the wellbeing of the social care workforce will not be known for some time. However, what is clear is that is has taken its toll and highlighted the inequalities in the sector.

“Unlike the NHS, social care operates in a quasi-market, with a fragmented, low-paid workforce. Our work has shown that providers operating at the upper end of the market have been able to offer frontline staff support throughout the pandemic.

“Others, particularly SMEs and those relying on local authority contracts, have spent the year firefighting to stay on top of ever changing policy guidance."

The previous study is part of the Retention and Sustainability of Social Care Workforce (RESSCW) project, funded by the Health Foundation’s Efficiency Research Programme.

If you work in adult social care, you can complete the latest 2021 survey by clicking here