Questions have been raised over whether there are enough staff to meet the commitments in the Scottish government’s adult social care winter plan.

Yesterday’s strategy, the first for social care, pledged a raft of commitments and up to £112m to support the sector.

But “significant questions” over a key plank of the approach have been highlighted by the care sector and the Royal College of Nursing.

Analysis commissioned by the Scottish government said that minimising the transfer of staff between different care settings was “critical” to preventing outbreaks.

As a result, care employers will be asked to do “everything they can” to limit the movement of staff between different care homes or groups of service users.

Meanwhile agency staff who have worked in a covid-positive home will have to self-isolate for 14 days before moving to another.

Up to £50m is being allocated to care organisations to minimise staff movement.

But Scottish Care, which represents private and charitable care providers, has said this “will not be easy” to achieve.

“Individuals who work in social care are amongst some of the lowest paid within our society and they frequently have multiple jobs not because they want to but because they need to,” Chief Executive Dr Donald Macaskill said.

“In addition, there has to be a realistic appreciation that there is a limited supply of workers. Before the pandemic providers of care – regardless of sector – struggled to recruit, most especially nursing staff.”

“We have all to work closely at local level to ensure that there is adequacy of workforce supply to ensure safety and quality practice.

“The roles involved are highly skilled and cannot simply be undertaken by individuals without experience, skill or training.”

The commitment could be harder to achieve in home care services, Dr Macaskill said, where there is already a “drift from full-time employment to part-time working because staff are exhausted by the efforts of the last few months.”

The criticism has been backed by Theresa Fyffe, head of the Royal College of Nursing Scotland, who said “chronic staff shortages” in the sector meant the goal would be “challenging”.

The former deputy chief nurse, who has previously spoken out about long-overlooked workforce challenges in care homes, said: “There are significant questions over where the workforce is going to come from to cover sickness absence and provide the support needed.

“Last week’s report on discharges made clear the challenges that face the care home sector –  we must learn the lessons and ensure the additional resources announced today make a difference for Scotland’s care home residents and the nursing staff who care for them.”

At the end of October figures published by Public Health Scotland revealed 78 older people were discharged from NHS hospitals to Scottish care homes after testing positive for covid-19 early on in the pandemic.

Scottish Care said the report accompanying the figures offered “only part of the story” that left out the experiences of frontline care staff.

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