North Yorkshire care jobs: Alex Slade, Harrogate Reablement worker

 

 

This article is sponsored by North Yorkshire County Council. 

Some workers leave the care sector for jobs in retail, but Alex Slade has taken the opposite route and is riding high with a successful and satisfying career in North Yorkshire.

In addition to her work helping those who have been in hospital to live back in the community, Alex has a day each week studying for her Level Three qualification in Health and Social Care, which will help her career progress.

In the meantime, however, Alex, 29, enjoys her role with the County Council’s north Harrogate reablement team because of the positive impact she can have on people’s lives. She said:

“In this team you see people progress and sometimes they can go on to not need care.

“It is lovely to help people become independent again and I find it very rewarding.”

The job can involve, quite literally, getting people back on their feet after a fall, or learning to look after themselves again after a stay in hospital.

She had spent five years working as a one-to-one carer before moving to the re-ablement team, a switch which allowed her to get to know a wider spectrum of people.

It is a very different world from the early years of her career, working in a burger bar at 16 before moving on to shops.

Although Alex finds her main work rewarding, she has a broad sphere of responsibilities, including spending time as an Independence Co-ordinator, conducting assessments to work out the type of help – such as specialist equipment – clients may need.

She also acts as the team’s ‘champion’ for both medication and recycling – working with GPs and their patients to prevent unintended stockpiling of medicines, which could be harmful in some cases, while also encouraging people to recycle waste when her visits are taking place – helping them make a positive contribution to society despite the restrictions they may face.

Alex’s spread of responsibilities, coupled with working towards a higher qualification, reflect the career development encouraged by North Yorkshire’s senior staff. She said:

“My team manager always wants us to be our best-selves and encourages us to do more.”

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Care home staff and residents at centre of recruitment campaign

Care home residents and staff in North Yorkshire have spoken out in support of a recruitment campaign urging people to “make a difference on your doorstep”.

Make Care Matter has been launched by North Yorkshire County Council with the aims of tackling a critical shortfall in workers and changing perceptions of the sector which is enduring a major challenge to attract and retain staff.

There are around 1,000 jobs available across the county and those who rely on and work in care have now come together to provide a boost for the campaign.

Nick Moxon, who has cerebral palsy and is a resident at Disability Action Yorkshire‘s Claro Road care home in Harrogate, is one of several people featuring in TV adverts from this week. He told a press conference today:

“Our carers at Claro Road are like family – they pick us up when we are feeling down and keep us smiling.

“The care sector needs a shot in the arm so hopefully by launching this campaign and playing our part this will be the start of a turning point in the way the care sector is perceived.”

Mr Moxon’s carer Jade Bullock added:

“I have created a caring bond with customers here at Disability Action Yorkshire and this is something people will not understand until they have experienced it for themselves.

“There is satisfaction in this job you won’t find anywhere else.”

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The county council says people of all ages and backgrounds can work in care and that the need for more people to join the sector has never been greater.

It is also calling on national government to review the status of the social care workforce.

The council’s corporate director for health and adult services, Richard Webb, said the care profession needed to be recognised on the same level as the NHS to help attract new recruits.

Mr Webb said:

“We are asking the wider community to see care through the eyes of people who use services and those who work in the sector.

“We want you to understand how vital it is and see a different picture.

“There are opportunities for everyone in every community. Please come join us and give it a try.”

To find out more about job opportunities go to www.makecarematter.co.uk

District care homes reduce services after unvaccinated staff forced to leave

Some care homes in the Harrogate district have had to cut back services because unvaccinated staff left rather than having covid vaccines.

The government made it mandatory for all care home workers to be vaccinated by November 11. It said this would protect people being cared for.

Richard Webb (pictured), corporate director for health and adult services at North Yorkshire County Council, told a media briefing this week that nine staff out of 2,000 at council-run care homes had refused to have the vaccine and therefore either had been redeployed or had their contracts terminated. Five of these were in Harrogate.

“That has caused some issues for us. We are obviously trying to replace people who have left us and that has meant we have had to downscale temporarily some of our day and respite services as people know them.

“We’ve put alternatives in place but that might be in a different location to your normal location for a break so we are in touch with families about that.”

Mr Webb said there were 500 care providers in total across North Yorkshire, adding:

“We’ve had approximately 240 people out of 20,000 who decided not to have the vaccination. Again, unfortunately they will be leaving social care. But overall that’s an incredible record and compares very well with many other places across England.

The county council began a social care recruitment drive Make Care Matter to plug the staff shortfall. Mr Webb said it had so far generated 170 applications and that 31 interviews were coming up and 14 people had been appointed to jobs.He said there would be a second recruitment phase after Christmas.

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