A Scottish government campaign to support adult social care recruitment has been launched today, with a focus on highlighting the rewarding and varied careers on offer in the sector.

The ‘You can make the difference’ recruitment drive focuses on the positive difference an adult social care worker can make to people’s lives and how rewarding the relationship between a carer and the person receiving care can be.

Ads are set to run across TV, radio, outdoor and digital advertising, and will showcase the variety of different care roles in adult settings available across the country.

Launching the campaign in Glasgow today, Social Care Minister Maree Todd met staff at Yoker’s Quayside Care Home run by HC-One Scotland to hear about recruitment experiences, training, and career development opportunities.

She told healthandcare.scot that she is not shying away from the reality that the sector is under more pressure than ever before, with a strained and exhausted workforce.

Ms Todd was joined by members of Glasow City Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP)  to learn how the care home and partnership work together to improve services and meet people’s changing needs.

The Minister told healthandcare.scot earlier today that “we need to remind everyone of the inherent value of social care”:

“We need to recruit the right kind of people who care, who want to make a difference to folks’ lives – we need to pay them well and provide good work conditions.”

Yet, this Monday more than 100 organisations came together  to urge Scotland’s First Minister to increase social care pay above a promised £12 an hour minimum.

Ms Todd told healthandcare.scot she believes that “absolutely we need to improve the pay for the sector” and Scotland has set itself on a path to do this.

She said it’s important to remember the “transformative change social care makes to people’s lives” both for individuals accessing care and their families, adding:

“We need to strengthen the sector. There is absolutely no doubt that social care is going to change – and part of the reason for building the National Care Service is to build something, that’s not going to be static, but that will evolve to meet the changing needs.”

Ms Todd said she loves hearing about the “community spirit” and connecting social care builds, adding:

“Working in adult social care is an opportunity to have a hugely positive impact on people’s lives on a daily basis.

“To help address the issues care providers are facing in filling vacancies, we’ve increased pay and believe the National Care Service will help us and our partners to provide consistency in further improved pay and conditions, access to training and development and ensuring a career in social care is attractive and rewarding.

“It has been so good to meet with the staff here at Quayside and the HSCP to hear how they are working together to not just adapt to the caring needs of their community, but how they really support their staff develop skills, experience and careers.”

Maxine Smedley, Managing Director for HC-One Scotland, said that care home teams in Quayside and across Scotland contribute “an incredible amount” to their communities, adding:

“It’s so important to us that we are a place where colleagues are supported to develop lifetime careers, including through SVQs, apprenticeship programmes, nurse preceptorships, dementia training programmes, and our own Aspiring Home Manager programme where we encourage our leaders of the future to really tap into their potential.

“Our social care workforce is of immense value to society and they really do make a difference.”

Winter demand and delayed discharges

Doctors said they are deeply concerned for care homes this winter months ago and Ms Todd has now told healthandcare.scot it is “really crucial to have adequate workforce" to sustain the care home sector.

She said the government started planning for winter months last year and surges in demand are now expected throughout the year, adding:

“There’s a whole package of things we can do to reduce the pressure of delayed discharges and we’re doing them all – and we’re trying to do them all consistently.

“But nobody can shy away from the fact that the entire health and social care system is facing more pressure than ever before.”

She added that the biggest challenge the care home and wider social care sector has faced has been the pandemic, which has left a “very tired and very stretched” workforce.

Research published this year revealed the “horrendous” impacts on those working in care homes throughout the pandemic, with staff sharing a sense of hopelessness and feeling unable to take a day off work.

Ms Todd said one “great thing” that resulted from the pandemic was improved collaboration across sectors.

She says a whole-system approach for winter planning and beyond is needed moving forward to reach people before they reach hospital and reduce their stays in hospital.

She said to do this, the care home and wider social care sector must be supported and it’s vital to recognise the role of social care outside of buoying the NHS, adding:

“People are living longer – that’s a good thing, but sometimes they’re living longer with more complex illness, and can be further on in their journey when they’re coming into care homes. We need to think about all of that in order to meet those needs.”

To find out more about adult social care jobs, people can visit www.CareToCare.scot.

Read more: First Minister urged to rethink social care pay rise; Ad campaign can't shift negative view of care jobs; Winter funding for ambulance services;  Doctors ‘deeply concerned' for care homes over winter; Outstanding questions stall NCS scrutiny

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