Opinion

Proper workforce planning needed to tackle care home covid crisis

A third of coronavirus related deaths in Northern Ireland have occurred among care home residents
A third of coronavirus related deaths in Northern Ireland have occurred among care home residents A third of coronavirus related deaths in Northern Ireland have occurred among care home residents

CONCERNS about the vulnerability of residents and staff in care homes have been escalating for weeks as the lethal impact of coronavirus began to emerge.

Private meetings between health service chiefs and an organisation representing the private care sector took place early last month at which assurances were sought - and reportedly given - that adequate staffing was in place to cope with the pandemic pressures.

Warnings from Pauline Shepherd about the fears she was hearing "on the ground" from private home owners in relation to PPE shortages and limited testing were made behind closed doors as well as to the Stormont scrutiny committee.

As part of the 'surge' planning to tackle the virus in both hospitals and communities, Ms Shepherd said she was led to believe that appropriate numbers of frontline staff would be redeployed to both settings as part of a "strategic workforce plan" by the Northern Ireland health service.

It was something of a surprise then when pleas were made yesterday morning by the health minister and the north's chief social worker to nurses to "volunteer" their services to work in care facilities.

While the £6.5 million injection into the private care home sector announced by Mr Swann is a welcome one and recognition of the crisis facing it at this juncture, legitimate questions are being asked as to why this didn't happen sooner and why the necessary numbers of skilled staff required to equip homes wasn't better planned.

The dire shortages in the north's nursing workforce - there are now more than 2,000 unfilled posts - have been well documented and led to unprecedented strike action last year by the Royal College of Nursing over "unsafe" staffing and pay parity.

Many nurses will undoubtedly "put themselves forward" in coming days and weeks and take up the mantle of working in the hugely challenging environment that is the care home sector - where Covid-19 has claimed the lives of at more than 90 vulnerable people in the north.

For others this may not be possible due to individual circumstances.

With the death toll in many European countries in nursing and care homes now accounting for almost half of all fatalities, it is clear that the impact of this virus will continue to be felt for some time before suitable drug treatments and a vaccine are found.

And while department chiefs say that planning around the pandemic is a "fluid situation", all efforts must be made to ensure that appropriate workforce planning is prioritised to protect some of the most vulnerable people in our society and those on the frontline caring for them.