Inclusion and diversity
One thing I’m really committed to is our ability to lead on inclusion and diversity. Not just for our workforce but also for people who draw upon care and support. We know that the care workforce is predominantly female. So, we’re largely women and we also have, more than other sectors, people from other protected characteristics: people with disabilities, carers and people from black and other minority communities. So, it’s really important to me that we have that represented visibly in what we do.
That commitment to equality and diversity, race equality standard and leading with being diverse by design, is crucial. The commitment I have to equality and social justice has driven me through my career and lead me to being President today.
Care closer to home
We also have priorities to articulate to the incoming Government. For example, providing care closer to home is going to be really important. We know that there is growing public awareness of health and social care, but the place to get support is almost always hospital, still.
We hear a lot about ‘Well you can’t get a GP if you try’ or ‘People can’t get packages of care and support’ and not all of that is the reality. So, it’s going to be vital that ADASS continues to raise awareness of and improve access to care closer to home. To achieve this, we can support people by understanding what they want, rather than people feeling that they’ve got to meet a criteria.
I also think that we currently have a system of care where we’re giving people support in crisis, rather than focussing on prevention. We’ll be working closely with Government in the next year to identify how support can be built into communities and provided early on, to avoid crises.
Support for carers
Carers will continue to be one of my priorities. I’m really driven about the role of carers and they constantly tell us that they want advice and guidance and support when it’s needed. We know that carers often are stuck trying to navigate things at the worst times and the support isn’t always there. In Nottinghamshire, for example, carers tell me that the support is good when they get it, but it takes a while or they don’t know how to get there.
So, one of the things that I’ll be looking to the incoming Government to do, but also ADASS’ membership, because there is a lot we can do ourselves, is to focus on that information, advice, guidance and support offer. We are asking broadly for a whole range of interventions for carers, such as carers’ leave and a focus on carers’ poverty because we know that carers have been really impacted by the cost-of-living increases. Living with a disability, spending more time in the home or having certain needs because you’re older or more isolated can mean that you’re more likely to use more energy.
Workforce
I don’t think there is really an accurate public narrative about what social care does. Social care is quite amazing; there’s a whole diverse set of interactions, relationships and ways that we support people everyday that I don’t think is really well understood by the public.
People who work in social care, if they’re a care worker, social worker or occupational therapist, often don’t feel there is recognition or support targeted towards managing their wellbeing. All too often, we also hear that there is a lack of public understanding about what the social care workforce does. The public sees social care through the lens of the NHS, or worse, thinks that social care is delivered by the NHS.
So, increasing that pride in our workforce is really important to me. We’re also looking for the long-awaited workforce strategy from Government that Skills for Care is leading for the sector. We want this work to be funded by Government so that we can think about creating robust career pathways and fairer pay terms and conditions, amongst other things.
This is because of what we know about those of us who work in social care: pay is important but it’s one of a bundle of things. It’s not just about pay, it’s about having a full-time contract, having some certainty about work, being valued but importantly, being trained, developed and having some idea of progression within the sector.
Which areas of the sector would you like ADASS to focus on in the year ahead? Leave a comment on this article or join the conversation to share your thoughts.
Melanie Williams is ADASS President and Corporate Director of Adult Social Care and Health at Nottinghamshire County Council. Email: [email protected] X: @1adass