@Avarua
The market has done it's job: people won't work in a sector that pays fuck all. That sector is profitable for most elderly who stay - even with higher wages - and the unprofitable ones can be subsidised. If it wasn't profitable, why are retirement villages popping up everywhere? They're creaming profits while paying their staff fuck all. Why carers don't walk out en masse, I don't know. It's almost like they like being exploited.
The problem there is that many people are pushed into care work because it's a job that currently you need a DBS and a covid vaccination to do and nothing else, no one's particularly bothered about the suitability of people doing the work and with no entry requirements, unemployed are pushed into doing this or get sanctioned, and no one's really bothered if they want to, if they are any good at it, as long as they've got a job and there's another name on the rota.
It's seen as a job you do because you can't do anything else, so until the training and entry requirements increase, there's going to always be a supply of people - suitable or not - to work in care. That's currently vastly depleted because of Brexit and the shortages in other occupations that have similar entry requirements like hospitality or retail, and people are going without care, care staff are run ragged and standards aren't met, and short of talking about it now and again, nothing is being done.
This was always going to happen at some point, no one wanted to, or apparently still does, address it.
The other group are the ones who actually run the care sector, and it's 'funded' by goodwill, unpaid overtime and society demands about duty of care, and self expectations about not turning down the 14 hour shift on your one day off because the people you care for will go without care, providers know and use this daily to fill their rota to the bare minimum, while still getting paid the same. Short staffed shifts impact on the people getting the care and the workers - but no one gets a refund or a pay bonus for putting up with it, the provider keeps the cash that should be being spent on staff to provide proper care.
While the government and CQC (a useless organisation if ever I saw one!) Allow this to happen, and care workers bare the brunt of the blame when things go wrong, nothing is going to change.
Care workers and the people in care need to start being listened to about the issues, rather than a token chat or form at inspection time, inspection needs to be far more robust and the providers need to be held strongly to account and not allowed to shunt the blame on to the workers, say lessons have been learned, and then carry on as before.
Care business is just that, a business, and it's got profit at the heart of it, like any business. If we want more, and better carers then government needs to step in and make that happen, because providers are not going to do it of their own accord. You can have the highest standards in the world set for delivering care, they're not going to be achieved if there's no one to deliver the care.
As for assisted dying, in principle yes a good idea as many people, me included, don't want to live the way some people with dementia or other illnesses dictate, but, we need a massive culture shift, and even then, we need to realise that it's not a quick fix.
For example, by the time someone reaches the point with dementia that they no longer have a quality of life, they're very likely to be unable to consent - even with an advanced directive, who makes that final decision that today is the day? The family? The doctor? The care staff? I don't want that responsibility as a relative or a care worker.
The shortfall is starting to push wages and conditions up for care workers, but imo, in the wrong ways. Joining bonuses, free uniforms etc are being offered as an incentive, those things don't do anything to address the real issues of poor training, poor staffing levels and overall poor pay, and are easily withdrawn as soon as things swing back the other way.
The whole industry needs to change, but, that's going to cost money, money people don't want to part with in the form of inheritance or tax. I don't particularly want to pay more NI - because it's not going to ensure we get enough staff to provide care properly, proper training or registration of care workers, or better wages and conditions. It's either going to subsidise the increased need for the care already being delivered, or end up as profit for providers.
Ultimately, I'm a human being too, and there's only so much of this I can take before I get to burn out and leave - leaving another gap in the market where there was experience and compassion for those I care for. That's what we're seeing happening, because right now, we have a choice. Those in our care don't.