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With an ageing population, Guernsey continues to become ever more reliant on residential care homes and the nurses that run them. However, the combined impact of both Brexit and Covid-19 has exacerbated severe staffing issues.
“We’re all quite fearful going forward as to how we’re going to cope as an industry,” said the Chair of the Guernsey Care Managers Association, Cathy Bailey.
“A lot of our homes have staff who have been with us for many years and are very hard working, but as those people retire, it would be very naïve of us to think that we can just easily recruit into those positions."
Pictured: “It is becoming more and more challenging to meet the increasing and unprecedented demand for community care,” said Deputy Brouard.
The issue is multi-faceted, with a lack of people training up in the island, and a difficulty in getting people to relocate to Guernsey as well.
“The Institute of Health and Social Care train nurses every year,” said Ms Bailey. “At the moment we’re simply not training enough staff to cover both HSC and the care establishment in Guernsey.
“We’re looking after more than 800 beds in Guernsey in our sector alone, and that requires a considerable workforce – it is going to get increasingly more difficult to get the right people through the door.”
When it comes to hiring off-island, Ms Bailey said carers face a number of hurdles before even accepting a job, exacerbated by Guernsey’s current housing crisis.
“It’s the cost of their visa, on top of their housing licence; not all establishments have housing for staff, but there are no rental properties available. It’s a real issue and a crisis in the community."
Training is offered on-island with the College of Further Education, giving students access to NVQ levels up to 5, a required qualification for a nurse who becomes a ‘House Manager’.
Full care courses are available every year, and the ‘Apprenticeship in Care’ course at the CoFE was launched last year.
“Education is the key to everything, we do have the people here, it’s just about encouraging to see another route open to them,” said Ms Bailey.
Pictured: The College of FE provides training for prospective carers in Guernsey.
Ms Bailey said people interested in becoming a carer, and nurses who are already qualified, shouldn’t dismiss residential homes as career paths.
“Registered nurses sometimes don’t see care homes as a career choice because they think they will be de-skilled, when in actual fact the opposite is true.
“We do see people coming from other industries who are looking for job satisfaction, people who are looking for a real sense of teamwork and there’s a real abundance of that in our industry,” she said.
Ultimately, Guernsey’s residential care homes are being staffed safely at the moment, but this might not last, and the increased pressures are being felt across the island.
“We have sufficient staff to provide a safe level of care. The issues come when you have sickness that is unexpected. Unlike a hospital, you can’t borrow from another ward.
“You just have to manage, and it means people have to work extra shifts, and I know that some care homes at the moment are struggling with that. That’s when things could become unsafe,” she said.
Pictured: “I don’t think that Guernsey people should be alarmed thinking that homes are going to close, it’s not something that anybody would do lightly,” said Ms Bailey.
More students enrolling in education, and continued work with HSC, will prove to be the way forward for maintaining the future of our crucial care homes.
“HSC needs the care industry because without us there would be more people blocking beds in the hospital and unable to move, and HSC do not want to be in the business of long-term care.
“They want to commission services, not provide them in that respect. So, they do need us,” she concluded.
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