11/08/2015
The chief of the Care Quality Commission (CQC) warned recently that social care services for adult in the UK is experiencing “stress and strain.”
Andrea Sutcliffe, CQC’s chief inspector since 2013, told The Observer last August 8 that cuts in social care funding has caused enormous pressure on care workers who are increasingly becoming demoralised due to the small pay they get while working long and often difficult hours.
Sutcliffe said many care workers feel that they are working longer hours than usual but their efforts are not being valued much. Consequently, the CQC chief told the Observer that many of these demoralised care workers become “someone you wouldn't want them to be.”
Social care in the UK has been struggling with funding cuts by the government. Local authorities recently revealed that social care funding has been cut to about £4.6bn since 2010. It is expected that councils this year will deal with a £1.1bn cut.
A freedom of information request by the Observer from the CQC also revealed that complaints of abuse have increased since the introduction of social care budget cuts. For the period between 2011 and 2015, the Observer said an average of 150 abuse complaints daily were recorded. 30,000 complaints, ranging from physical, psychological, as well as sexual abuse and even financial fraud, were made during the first half of this year alone, which is double than that recorded in 2011.
Sutcliffe said the increasing number of complaints against care workers is an indication that UK’s adult social care system is “certainly under stress and strain.”
The CQC chief encouraged leaders to acknowledge social care’s significance. She told the Observer:
“There is an important responsibility in the role of those funding care – local authorities or clinical commissioning groups – to really understand what the true cost of care is, what true quality looks like and to make sure they are commissioning services that meet those standards and providers are given the appropriate funding to enable then to do that.”
