Issue 121 21.09.22
The weekly online newsletter for the care sector
Campaigners call to scrap conferences CAMPAIGNERS are calling on politicians to scrap party conferences to concentrate on tackling problems facing the country, including the crisis in the care of older and vulnerable people. The House of Commons is due to rise tomorrow (Thursday) for the party conference season and not return until October 17. Independent Care Group chair Mike Padgham said: “Understandably we have lost an awful lot of parliamentary time over the past couple of months, at a time when the country is in crisis. With households and businesses facing the current devastating cost of living crisis, this isn’t the time for politicians to be spending more time away from the House of Commons. “These are extraordinary times and I would say they call for an extraordinary response and if that means cancelling the party conferences so that our elected MPs can concentrate on getting the country out of the current mess then that is what should happen.” Mike says the Tory Party leadership caused a period of limbo when action was needed over the cost-of-living crisis. “Prime Minister Liz Truss took office and began announcing measures to try to tackle the crisis,” he added. “Then, quite understandably,
parliamentary business was quite rightly suspended due to the death of the Queen. “But we will need to get back on with tackling the domestic issues that haven’t gone away and are still putting people’s care and people’s livelihoods at risk. “Now isn’t the time for politicians to be going off to Liverpool or Birmingham to hold conferences, it is the time to be in Parliament coming up with solutions to the current crises.” Whilst the ICG welcomed the six-month cap on energy prices for businesses announced by the Prime Minister, it has warned more needs to be done. Mike added: “Rocketing fuel prices for homecare providers and gas and electricity prices for care and nursing homes are plunging many into very real financial difficulty and threatening their existence. “We are urging the Government to make good on its promise to provide more help for vulnerable sectors and to include social care in those sectors. “At the same time, we need to see urgent measures to help us tackle the dire shortage of care workers, which is severely limiting the care we can provide. “We need to see more of the Health and Social Care Levy targeted at social care straight away to help providers to recruit.”
A Christchurch care home resident was one of the last people in the UK to receive a 100th birthday card from the Queen. Mercia Crighton recently celebrated her landmark birthday at Fairmile Grange, based on the aptly-named Royal Close. She was thrilled to open her card from the Queen, which had been delivered to the care home just days before Queen Elizabeth II died. Mercia was treated like Fairmile Grange’s own queen for the day, complete with a tiara, and was joined by a host of special guests for her birthday party. The guestlist included her son Neil and his wife Julia, who had travelled from Sweden to be there, and took Mercia out for lunch before they returned for more celebrations. Two Dorset Police officers fulfilled her birthday wish by presenting her with her card from the Queen in honour of her late husband, who was a police officer.
Offices are ‘five-star employers’ HOME Instead has announced that 48 of its franchise offices have been recognised as five-star employers by independent employee engagement experts Workbuzz. These offices have been recognised for their supportive leadership, the quality of training and development on offer and workplace culture. Part of Home Instead’s mission is to be recognised as a forward-facing company that people aspire to work for, work with or recommend, and this recognition bears testament to the initiatives the company has in place for its network and their teams. CEO Martin Jones said: “We continue to champion the benefits of working in care and what a rewarding career it is – these engagement scores help our local offices to ensure that they are on track and that
their teams feel involved and valued in the business. “Being recognised as a forward-facing company that people aspire to work for is really important to us. This is our network’s best result yet and I send my congratulations to the offices who achieved five-star status.” Each year Home Instead employees are invited to take part in an anonymous survey which is run by Workbuzz. The survey explores areas such as the training and development on offer, relationships with managers and day-today responsibilities. The resulting scores paint a picture of employee engagement which is a measure of the involvement and enthusiasm of employees in their workplace.
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