National Care Forum PULSE Survey Results January 2021 Insights
The National Care Forum conducted a survey among its members in January 2021, shedding light on the challenges and developments in the care sector during the COVID-19 pandemic. Key insights included vaccination progress among staff, financial pressures faced by providers, workforce challenges, visiting restrictions, and the lack of data sharing. The survey revealed that less than 40% of staff were vaccinated by early February, highlighting the need for further efforts to ensure staff safety. Financial strains, workforce issues, and limitations on visiting were also major concerns identified. Data sharing and the importance of communication within the sector were emphasized as critical.
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National Care Forum PULSE Survey Results January 2021 Vic Rayner Executive Director, National Care Forum @vicrayner 11thFebruary 2021
Background The third of a regular monthly survey of NCF members Covers the period of 1st January 31st January Members were invited to complete an online SNAP survey Provides an in depth analysis of how care and support providers are operating in a COVID-19 world In depth sample covering 1180, services, 42,497 residents/ people using services & 47,568 staff
Hearing directly from our NCF members today Mark Cunningham, CEO of Heathlands Village: An update on their vaccination experience for care and support staff in Greater Manchester Brian James, Operations Manager, Keychange Charity: the challenges and solutions around staffing pressures and taking a dynamic risk based approach to visiting
Key messages Vaccination: good progress but more to do to ensure all care staff are vaccinated by 15 Feb Finance: facing very serious financial pressures, which will only get worse costs are up, income is down, occupancy is declining and many local authorities seem to be struggling to offer fee rate increases that will cover the increase in the NLW Workforce: combined pressure due to vacancy rates and increasing absence rates Visiting: providers trying hard to keep some visiting going within lockdown limits Data matters: it is totally unacceptable that key COVID data collected from the sector is not being shared with the care sector
Latest data as at 8 Feb 2021 from a quick snapshot survey Less than 40% of staff vaccinated 40% Percentage of organisations 35% 30% More than 70% of staff vaccinated 25% 60% Percentage of organisations 20% 50% 15% 10% 40% 5% 30% 0% Care homes for older adults Care homes for working age adults Supported living, extra care and sheltered housing Domiciliary care Community based services 20% 10% 0% Care homes for older adults Care homes for working age adults Supported living, extra care and sheltered housing Domiciliary care Community based services
Financial risks: occupancy is in decline Care home providers occupancy is down from October: An average of 84% in October An average of 82% in November An average of 79% in January Compares to an industry average of 89% - 90% in 2019 Occupancy level October 2020 - January 2021 85% 84% 83% Percentage of services 82% 81% 80% 79% 78% 77% 76% Oct-20 Nov-20 Dec-20 Jan-21
Financial pressure is serious 87% of respondents report an increase in operating costs due to COVID 75% report a decrease in income Looking ahead 95% expect that COVID will continue to have an impact on their financial position for 2021 LA Fee rates for 2021/22 of the 39% that have been offered an uplift, nearly half will get less that 2.2%, which will not even cover NLW increase, let alone all the other costs being faced Future sustainability in question Local Authority fee uplifts - January 2021 Don't know 5% Been offered uplift 39% Not applicable 28% Not been offered an uplift yet 28%
Workforce pressures Overall vacancy rate = 5% Overall absence rate = 8%, up from 5% in October 2020 and 6.7% in November 2020 Across services, there is a big range of levels of staff absence rate: 45% of respondents had services in January with absence rate of between 5% - 9.99% 23% had services with higher absence rates, over 10% and sometimes over 20%. staffing pressures vary greatly, but the impact of COVID infection and isolation can be very significant in individual services.
Care home visiting: trying hard to keep it going Types of visits facilitated by care homes - January 2021 Visits in residential care homes in January 2021 70% 60% Percentage of care homes 50% Have not had visiting 28% 40% Have had visiting 72% 30% 20% 10% 0% Window visits Garden visits Indoor screened visits or pods Indoor end of life visits Other
Data matters Totally unacceptable that key COVID data collected from the sector is not being shared with the care sector The care sector needs to see the aggregated view of the data within the Capacity Tracker to show the national, regional and local level Key data includes: The latest trends on positive cases and outbreaks to support local operational and contingency planning and visiting planning The latest on vaccination progress Staff shortages trends
Keep in touch! Vic rayner@nationalcareforum.org.uk @vicrayner www.nationalcareforum.org.uk
