New recruits needed by social care provider

A SOCIAL care provider is aiming to create 60 jobs in the next 12 months to meet the increasing demand for personalised services from the elderly and people with learning disabilities.

Carevision@home is providing alternative services for people in the North East in response to the Government’s increased commitment to ‘personalisation’ of social care.

Carevision@home director Mary Stevenson said: “People who use social services can choose the services they need. It’s about choice and independence. This is a new opportunity – personalisation – it’s about giving people control, that’s the crux of it. For years we’ve been needing this.

“It’s so amazing that you can see people making their own choices – they might decide to go bowling one day rather than going to day care or to a college course to learn skills so they can eventually live a more independent life.”

Ms Stevenson, who worked as both a care commissioner and provider for 18 years in Scotland in the public and private sectors, was appointed to head the new business by its parent company Tempus Resourcing, which she previously worked for in the North East and north of the border.

Carevision@home, which is headquartered in Newcastle, currently has five staff. But new contract wins since it was registered last month mean there is a need for additional social care professionals to work with clients in their own homes. All new recruits will be subject to rigorous Criminal Records Bureau and reference checks.

Ms Stevenson said: “We have just done a recruitment drive with JobCentre Plus. We are looking for staff who already have experience in the care industry or have an NVQ level 2 in care or health as well as those who are in the process of doing their NVQs.

“We are recruiting because we have new clients on board. We are also submitting tenders at the moment with local authorities and we’ve got a good rapport with them.”

The company expects to hear about those tenders by the middle of next month. Local authorities now have six months to put their plans for personalisation in place.

Ms Stevenson said that councils in the region are already among the best in the country for allowing people to choose the services they need.