Social care staff shortage blocks Dorset hospital beds

Hospitals are unable to discharge some patients due to care sector shortages

Hospital beds in Dorset are in short supply partly due to a care sector recruitment crisis and rising hospital admissions, councillors have been told.

Staff shortages mean more than 700 care home beds are lying empty and some hospital patients cannot be discharged.

Dorset Care, owned by Dorset Council, took over the running of the county's care services from Tricuro last week.

Adult services executive director Viv Broadhurst told councillors steps were being taken to improve the situation.

A report to Dorset Council in September said 22% of all social care beds in the county were empty - more than 700 spaces.

'Scratching the surface'

It is estimated a third of all social care staff leave each year, with recruiting problems exacerbated by rising travel costs and a fall in the number of foreign workers, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Ms Broadhurst told Monday's People and Health Scrutiny Committee that placing people in care home beds was not the complete answer and other support was also needed.

Dorchester councillor Molly Rennie called for a wider assessment to ensure services were "joined up" from the patient's perspective.

"Until we can do that we will just be scratching the surface," she said.

Care Dorset, which took over on 3 October, is an independent company, wholly owned by Dorset Council.

Corporate director for commissioning Jonathan Price said staff who transferred to the new organisation were happy with the change.

He said: "We want more than just business as usual and we will invest in it, both in revenue and capital."

Research from the Health Foundation charity found one in five residential care workers in the UK were living in poverty before the cost-of-living crisis, while industry body Skills for Care said 165,000 care posts across England had been left unfilled at the end of the last financial year.