Helen Allen, Programme Director at Community Catalysts, reflects on the findings of a survey to understand the quality of life of the health and social care workforce, with a focus on the role of Personal Assistants.
The Department of Health and Social Care has published the findings of its 2023 survey of the health and social care workforce. It aimed to understand people’s experiences of working in the sector and develop policies to support practice.
Community Catalysts was asked by Skills for Care to share the survey with people running a community micro-enterprise, to ensure a broad range of experiences were included. Some of those who responded may have been working as an individual sole trader, self-employed and included under the category of ‘Personal Assistant’.
I hope that the findings in the report are considered as part of the Baroness Louise Casey Review to create a National Care Service in the UK. It resulted in some important findings around Personal Assistants:
The subgroup results identify that Personal Assistants have higher wellbeing scores than other groups of the workforce. This includes life satisfaction which scored an average of 6.42 compared to 5.74 across the whole workforce.
Personal Assistants scored higher on most care work-related quality of life measures including:
What was of real interest was that Personal Assistants (55%) are less likely to state an intention to leave the workforce, despite being more likely than other groups to say they don’t have enough opportunities to develop.
At Community Catalysts, we experience bigger regulated providers getting frustrated with us for ‘pilfering’ their staff and making it difficult for them to provide the care that they are contracted for. However, we know that people often decide to leave the care/ health sector before they come to us for support to set up on their own.
The results of the survey provide some evidence to support this: 58% of participants working in residential care are more likely to agree they often think about leaving their organisation. This is compared with those working in day care services (47%) and home care services (41%).
Personal Assistants, as well as those running a community micro-enterprise, need to be encouraged, supported and recognised as playing a key role in health and social care.
A happy and mentally and physically well workforce – one that ‘sticks with’ people and enjoys their role has got to be one of the most significant factors in providing great care surely!
The survey was developed, designed and conducted by Ipsos, the University of Kent and Skills for Care.