14 February (Part 4) - Never mind the quality, we can’t afford to pay for it any more
I
have been reminded that there has been no report on the Adult’s Social Care
Scrutiny meeting held a month ago; the fact is that it was close to being
unmitigated bad news and included nothing revelatory.
Cabinet Member Seymour said that the service was “in a very critical state”
particularly regarding hospital discharges and re-enablement packages. As always
there is a grave shortage of staff especially among experienced social workers
and occupational therapists. “The future is not looking rosy.”
The long term effects of Covid remain problematical.
Labour Councillor Nicola Taylor (Erith) was critical of the way that budgets had
been presented because it is “fluid” and a summary is not good enough for proper Scrutiny. She was
told that all the detail had been separately published but some things are fast moving as she implied.
The Director admitted that the borough had reached the stage where it was having
to balance the quality of care staff it could find against what it could afford
to pay for. The care providers also had severe staffing problems. (Which government minister
decided to sack unvaccinated workers a couple of years ago? Sajid Javid.)
One has already given rise to to “health and safety concerns and this is taken extremely seriously”.
The Cabinet Member said that things are on course to get worse when care workers
cannot afford to run their cars due to the proposed ULEZ extension. “The Mayor
is making an absolutely appalling attack on working people and anyone who
supports him should be utterly ashamed of themselves.”