Crisis In Care Home Staffing Leaves Residents With Basic Needs Unmet

Residents in care homes suffer as a result of staff crisis

- Robert Booth

Thousands of vulnerable people are suffering inadequate care as severe staffing shortages in previously good care homes push operators to break rules and put residents at risk.

Inspections by the regulator have revealed the human impact of a worsening staffing crisis, with people being left in their rooms 24 hours a day, denied showers for more than a week, enduring assaults from fellow residents, and left soaking in their own urine. Stretched staff have been reported to fear the squeeze on their time is dangerous.

Analysis by the Guardian revealed staff shortages were identified as a problem in three-quarters of care homes in England where the Care Quality Commission had cut their rating from “good” before Covid-19 to “inadequate” this summer.

A further 10% of homes whose rankings fell had enough staff, but failed to recruit safely, either not taking references properly, not carrying out criminal records checks, or not training staff adequately.

Staff shortages rose by 52% in the last year to 165,000 vacancies, according to Skills for Care, and close to one in 10 social care posts in England are now vacant. Examples of comments care workers made to inspectors include “staffing is a disaster” and “because of how intense it’s been and lack of support, staff just don’t want to do it anymore”.

The current average pay in independent care homes in England is £9.01 an hour. Starbucks baristas earn over £10, and Amazon warehouse workers earn a basic wage of £10-£12.

Incidents in care homes found to have contributed to breaches of Care Act regulations because of staffing shortages included: