Key workforce challenges and what’s working well
In recent years, financial pressures, increased life expectancy and the growth in numbers of people living with multiple and complex conditions has put a considerable strain on resources. This creates demand for a workforce that can be responsive to these changes and adapt what they do to respond to this changing environment.
Attracting new people into social care to replace those who have left is just one solution to keep pace with the demand for social care services. We also need to make sure we are doing everything possible to retain our existing workforce. This involves a range of approaches including effective recruitment, good learning and development opportunities and a focus on the health and wellbeing of our workforce.
We also know that we cannot simply keep expanding our workforce in respond to growing demand, and we have not done this so far as demonstrated by a largely static workforce headcount over the last three years despite referrals for support increasing. We do therefore need our workforce to find new ways of supporting people, have the innovation and imagination, combined with the intelligence and compassion to support people in new ways based and less reliant on the provision of regulated care.
Our Adult Social Care Workforce Strategy needs to acknowledge and build on what is already working. Whilst there are many challenges, there are also many successes. We need to ensure we develop, promote, and celebrate existing good practice as well as look for new ideas. Each year we produce an Annual Report (also known as a Local Account), which seeks to showcase the work of Adult Social Care in Coventry.