Podcast: Removal of infection control fund could see some providers 'going bust' says home care chief

The removal of the infection control fund for care workers has made it “impossible for providers to find extra funding for full sick pay” and could contribute to some companies “going bust” creating a “lot of issues” for the NHS says Dr Jane Townson, chief executive of the Homecare Association.

On 4 April, the government’s stance was that as a country we must ‘learn to live with the virus’ and withdrew the infection control fund at a time when Covid rates are still prevalent. The Homecare Association is concerned care workers fear they will catch Covid and will have to either isolate without pay or be forced to carry on working.

In the podcast Let’s Talk About Care, Dr Townson said: “It’s impossible for providers to find extra funding to pay for full sick pay from their existing income.

“If they’re not able to pay care workers for isolating, either the care workers are going to look for other work or they will have to go to work when they’re Covid positive.

“What we are seeing at the moment is fear amongst staff about supporting clients who are Covid positive in a way they haven’t been afraid before.

“It’s the fear of becoming infected themselves, spreading it to the rest of their family and having to have time off which will affect household income and that has become much more imperative with cost of living rises and fuel costs.

"We are already hearing reports of [care workers] leaving to go to care homes, the NHS or anywhere where travel is not required to the same extent."

The Homecare Association is campaigning for the government to change its mind and re-instate the infection control fund.

"Employers could find themselves going bust if they try to pay with money that they haven’t got. If home care isn’t functioning and home care capacity is inadequate, then it has an effect on the NHS because they can’t get people home," added Dr Townson.

’The cost of recruitment is just so prohibitive’

In January this year, the government expanded the Health and Care Visa scheme in a bid to stem the care sector recruitment crisis, making foreign care workers eligible for fast-track UK visas.

This expansion was to help with the workforce shortages, caused by Brexit and the mandatory Covid vaccine policy, that were already prevalent within the care sector.

However, Dr Townson says the “cost and complexity” of overseas recruitment is “quite off-putting” to many home care providers.

“Some of our members who have gone ahead have had to employ immigration lawyers to help them through the process, others have employed agencies specialised in this. Just getting a sponsorship licence and then the cost of visas works out in the order of £5,000 per employee.

“One of the other challenges is there is a salary threshold of £10.10 an hour it is higher than our national minimum wage of £9.50 [an hour]. If councils are only paying £15.80 an hour that doesn’t even cover staff costs at National Living Wage never mind an extra £7,000 to bring them in. The cost of recruitment is just so prohibitive.

“We have asked the Department of Health and Social Care to create a webpage which explains very simply what [to] do.”

’It became impossible to be a decent mother and fit in international travel’

Dr Townson also talks about her science background and how she spent 14 years in research and development for some of the world’s largest bioscience companies as well as global head of bioscience before transitioning to the social care sector which she says happened “quite by accident”.

She said: “I left because our children were four and three years old and it became impossible to be a decent mother and fit in international travel, so I quit.”

After returning to university to do further studies, Dr Townson found that she missed working for large organisations and was appointed as a non-executive director on the board of an NHS trust before becoming a non-executive of a care company too.

Dr Townson was asked if she would consider being interim chief executive whilst they looked for a permanent position.

“Initially I said no as I was running my own business but by Monday, I was interim chief executive. When they advertised the role, I applied and they decided to appoint me. So I accidentally became a care chief executive.

“I just really love the sector.

“When I became chief executive, I engaged with NHS colleagues from that position and found myself having to spend a lot of time educating [myself].

“I hadn’t actually realised how little everybody understands about how social care works and what sort of services are provided so there are a lot of opportunities to work together."

'The idea is to find a way to maintain people’s health at home'

Dr Townson is also chair of technology company Kraydel where the aim is to support older people living at home. Kraydel uses the television as a vehicle for the technology platform through an onset box.

“It’s already being used in a number of NHS trusts. The doctors really like it because when they want to do a remote consultation with people, they can see the whole room and the doctor can speak to both of them together.

“Kraydel has got that ability to do the communication but it’s also a platform for health monitoring devices that can be connected via Bluetooth so pulse proximities or blood pressure monitors get Bluetoothed straight to the NHS trust database and then any deviation from normal will be flagged to that clinician and interventions can be put in place.

“The idea is to find a way to maintain people’s health at home so they don’t end up being admitted to hospital because of a crisis.”

Dr Townson says there is potential to improve the technology between the NHS and social care to ensure a seamless flow. “In years to come I hope they will have those abilities here. It's technically possible but we are not just quite there yet.”

'In Japan, they have created silver centres'

Regarding the future of social care, Dr Townson would like to see more retired people working as this would make them feel they can still make a “valuable contribution” to society.

“I don’t really believe in retirement. I think if you want to work then you should because it gives you purpose and meaning.

“In Japan, they have created silver centres where older people can go to those centres where they do meaningful work that needs to be done and they get paid. In that process, they are meeting other people and feeling valued, and they are doing something worthwhile. That’s what we want to see.”

To listen to the full podcast, click here