Wellbeing and recruitment of HCS staff (FOI)

Request

A

The Jersey Care Model (JCM) we are advised will transform health and social care, in order to improve Islanders’ physical and mental health and wellbeing. How will the Government ensure there is enough staff, both in Government health and social care services, as well as in the independent and charity sector?

B

We are seeking difficulties in recruiting and retaining staff in the care sector, both pre and during the pandemic. How will the Government support the care sector to be able to provide what the New Care Model proposes?

C

It has been stated that to achieve the transformation promised in the New Care Model a patient centred approach will be adopted; whereby care is financially sustainable, safe and accessible, being provided in the places where people need it the most. How will this be achieved on current or future staffing levels in the community?

D

How resilient was the Health and social care workforce under pre-covid-19 operating conditions, and how might that resilience be strengthened in the future?

E

What has the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic been on resilience, levels of workforce stress, and burnout across Health and social care sectors?

F

What is the current scale of workforce burnout across Health and social care? How does it manifest, how is it assessed, and what are its causes and contributing factors? To what extent are Health and social care staff able to balance their working and personal lives?

G

What are the impacts of workforce burnout on service delivery, staff, patients and service users across Health and social care sectors?

H

What long term projections for the future health and social care workforce are available, and how many more staff are required so that burnout and pressure on the frontline are reduced? To what extent are staff establishments in line with current and future resilience requirements? How will this be managed for the new Care Model?

I

To what extent are there sufficient numbers of Health and social care professionals in training for service and resilience planning? On what basis are decisions made about the supply and demand for professionals in training?

J

What measures will be in place to increase resilience, improve working life and productivity, and reduce the risk of workforce burnout across Health and Social care, both now and in the future when the Care model is operating?

K

What further measures will be required to tackle and mitigate the causes of workforce stress and burnout, and what should be put in place to achieve parity for the community social care workforce?

L

What does the Director of Improvement and Innovation have in place to ensure there is enough staff on the ground to ensure people are able to have financially sustainable, safe and accessible care which is being provided in the places where people need it the most?

Response

A

An island-wide workforce strategy will be developed which considers planned service changes and the impact of those changes across all providers. All organisations providing health care and social care in Jersey will be invited and encouraged to participate in the work to inform the strategy and to identify opportunities such as joined recruitment, training and development.

B  

It is recognised that recruitment and retention is an issue for all care providers due to the nature of Island life, Brexit and the pandemic. Through the workforce strategy work, a deeper dive into the issues around recruitment and retention will be undertaken. Relevant Government departments will be working together to include wider recruitment factors, such as housing, education and registration into the workforce strategy.

HCS have also successfully bid for Fiscal Stimulus funding in conjunction with other government departments to encourage and fund recruitment and training into the home care market, which will support JCM objectives around supporting people to remain independent. This project is in progress and is being actively developed with care providers. It is planned to be rolled out during 2021 to support the sector with recruitment and training.

C  

As above, the workforce strategy is important as being able to recruit and flexibly use workforce across health and care sectors in Jersey is key to enable the transformation. The workforce strategy will also be informed by the development of new care pathways. Pathways will look at how care and support can be delivered best for different groups of people. By taking this approach care is planned holistically, focussing on outcomes for the patient. Pathways planning also provides the opportunity to review how resources are currently deployed across all care settings and enables the discussions on how resources can be allocated to improve outcomes for Islanders. This may be achieved within the same resource pool by introducing different skills or by deploying care providers to work in different care settings.

D to K

A response to these questions is declined under Article 3 (Meaning of “information held by a public authority”) of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 and Article 10(1) (Obligation of scheduled public authority to confirm or deny holding information) , in that this is not information held.

L

As described in the response to Question C, the approach to service planning for the JCM is via development of Care Pathways which will set out the optimal ways to support care across a range of conditions. This planning will also review in detail where care is most appropriately provided (including from a quality and safety aspect) to improve patient outcomes.

The pathways work, coupled with an island wide workforce strategy and plan, informed by the pathways work will ensure we have the right resources to support high quality, affordable care for our islanders whatever the care setting.

Articles applied

Article 3 - Meaning of “information held by a public authority”

For the purposes of this Law, information is held by a public authority if –

(a) it is held by the authority, otherwise than on behalf of another person; or

(b) it is held by another person on behalf of the authority.

Article 10 - Obligation of scheduled public authority to confirm or deny holding information

(1) Subject to paragraph (2), if –

(a) a person makes a request for information to a scheduled public authority; and

(b) the authority does not hold the information,

it must inform the applicant accordingly.