A Moray councillor has warned care workers must be listened to and supported if the region is to solve its current recruitment struggle.
Buckie ward member Tim Eagle says the voices of social care workers must be heard in order support them attending to residents in need in their homes.
He claims, from his vantage point on the area’s joint integration board, that he has seen a dramatic rise in the number of people and the worsening struggle of finding people to fill the gaps.
This is a critically important issue as, at the end of last year, Moray Council struggled to recruit enough carers to meet the demand for the at-home service which is endangering the wellbeing of vulnerable people in the area.
Mr Eagle, who is also the Scottish Conservative candidate for Moray in the next Scottish Parliamentary elections in 2021, has expressed his fears for the availability of social care services to homes in the region but particularly those in the communities of Keith and Forres.
As a member of the Moray Joint Integration Board, the Moray councillor has seen a drastic increase in the number of residents requiring the social care at home, which putting pressure on the service itself and the hard-working staff. Despite previous campaigns, Moray Council has faced difficulty in employing care workers to relieve this pressure.
Councillor Eagle said: “”There are many reasons for struggling to find staff and I am worried that one of those reasons is we do not listen enough to the concerns of staff currently doing the job.
“We should not place demands on them which cannot be met and should ensure they have the time to truly do what they enjoy, being with those they care for.”
In addition to the Mr Eagle’s belief that the needs of care staff not being met, the other factors the pose a challenge to recruitment is the taxing nature of the job in comparison to the wage rates, as well as the regional issue of the increased necessity of carers being able to drive in order to reach rural areas.
In recognition of this struggle, the team at Health and Social Care Moray held recruitment drop-in sessions earlier this week in Buckie, Rothes and Keith which were well-attended and they are hoping to appoint many of the applicants.
A spokeswoman for Health and Social Care Moray said: “We need more social care assistants to join our care at home teams to help to support and care for people at home, helping to maintain their independence and making a real difference to their quality of life.”
