An ageing population, Brexit and an acute skills crisis threaten to ground the care home system to a halt

At a time when the Care Home system is teetering on a knife edge, the specialist Nursing practice at Clayton Recruitment warns that the threat Brexit poses to labour availability, coupled with fewer Nurses entering the profession, stands to bring the entire system to a standstill. This issue is further compounded by new research which reveals that an extra 71,000 care home places will be needed in England within the next eight years to cope with rising life expectancy – something that stands to put even more pressure on a system which is arguably a ‘ticking time bomb’.

Commenting on the issue, Samantha Edmonson, Senior Nursing Consultant at Clayton Recruitment, commented:

“The care system has long suffered from a talent deficit – the simple fact is that there are not enough Nurses to cope with demand. And time after time the Government has been called on to put adequate measures in place which focus on getting the right skills into the profession – and crucially, keeping them. Despite this, however, little has been done and we are now faced with a system that is at breaking point. Recent figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which reveal that net migration fell from 81,000 to 246,000 in the year to March 2017, suggest that Brexit may already be influencing people’s decision to migrate in and out of the UK which could spell further trouble for a system which relies so heavily on foreign labour.

This, coupled with fewer Nurses entering the profession, as well an ageing population, means that urgent action needs to be taken to safeguard patients both now and in years to come. While the mainstream media focuses largely on negative stories about working in the arena, it is an incredibly fulfilling and varied sector and more needs to be done to publicise these aspects. While we need to see initiatives which entice people into the profession, it is arguably just as important that employers focus on keeping Nurses through robust talent retention and wellbeing strategies. ”

ENDS

Steph King
BlueSky PR
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