Urgent action required to attract care home staff in Wales

A leading care home figure has warned of a critical lack of trained nurses following the closure of two homes in Wales.

Mario Creft, Chair of Care Forum Wales, said urgent action is needed to attract more nurses into the independent care sector so it can relieve pressure on hospital bed use.

He blamed the flawed way in which social care is commissioned as a major cause of the problems.

“The commissioning process should be about quality and securing value for money and not about paying the lowest possible price,” he said.

“In Wales we don’t commission for quality it’s more about price and we then work backwards from the fee that we’re given by local authorities and local health boards.

“Another important fact is that the NHS is refusing to pay for 24/7 nursing presence in nursing homes yet the Welsh Government regulations insist on this.”

There are 20,000 beds in the independent social care sector in Wales, of which 11,500 are for people who need nursing care.

“There are simply not enough new homes being built to replace the ones that are being lost and this will affect communities across Wales,” Mr Kreft said.

“We are sleepwalking into a perfect storm of rising need, dwindling resources and a recruitment crisis unless urgent action is taken. We urgently need a whole sector solution, we need more nurses in Wales both in the NHS and in the independent sector,” he said.

Mr Kreft spoke out following the news that two Bridgend care homes were to close. Abergarw Manor in Brynmenyn and Southmead Grange in South Cornelly, both blamed lack of skilled workers as a major factor in their closure.