Leeds homecare appointments move online to entice new social workers

The social care sector is facing a desperate staff shortage across the country.

That’s left the system as a whole in crisis, with elderly patients being frequently stranded in hospital, despite being fit to leave, because there is so little capacity to arrange the care they need at home.

While poor pay and conditions have been blamed for the exodus of workers from the profession, some local care agencies are now trying to allow staff to work flexibly and remotely where possible.

Although appointments where patients need physical help are still delivered in-person, reminders to take medication and financial assessments are among those increasingly being done remotely.

Speaking at a council health scrutiny meeting on Tuesday, Conservative councillor for Wetherby, Norma Harrington, said: “There’s been a lot of changes throughout Covid, with people working from home.

“How do you see that impacting on social workers and healthcare professionals? Because it’s a little difficult for a care worker to work from home.

“What kind of issues will you be looking at to give them some flexibility?”

In response, Leeds City Council’s director for adults and health, Cath Roff said: “If you’re a care worker and you need to deliver hands-on care, you need to be in the house with the individual.

“But we are looking increasingly at the role technology can play, that might mean you don’t have to go physically into the house.”

Ms Roff said technology which monitors movement in a person’s home and the use of their appliances, which offers assurance they are up and about, had made social care “more efficient and effective”.

Video calling apps are also being used to make routine checks.

She added: “Rather than turning up to do a medication prompt, you can just dial in, have a chat with them and say ‘Margaret it’s time to take your pills’, and you can watch them take their pills.

“With social work we’ve had to really innovate during Covid so I think there’s much more now we’re able to do over the telephone.

“There’s always a judgement call. At times, we need to be in there seeing the state of the home.”