Search is on for new care staff for the Western Isles as shortages due to population change start to bite

A surplus in the budgets of care services in the Western Isles is being committed to efforts to recruit new staff as recognition grows of the impact of shortages on local care services.Â

The Western Isles Integration Joint Board (WIIJB), the body responsible for planning and funding a range of health and social care services locally, has developed a surplus of more than £6m due to an underspend in staffing budgets as a result of the numbers of vacancies, and larger than expected income from care home charges.

The surplus is comparatively the largest of any IJB in Scotland, and the organisation - a joint body of NHS Western Isles and the Comhairle - has now committed £750k to apprenticeship schemes in care and health services to bring new staff to the sector.

Dr. Ron Culley, Chief Officer of WIIJB, said: “The fragility of our care workforce is beginning to impact services and having made significant improvements in reducing delays for people in hospital waiting to get home, the lack of care availability is beginning to impact on the performance of our local health and care system.

“We are therefore focused on bringing new people into the care sector.”

VACANCIES BEING EXPERIENCED ACROSS ALL PROFESSIONAL GROUPS

A statement from the Comhairle highlighted that the IJB is required by law to develop and implement a workforce plan, and a Comhairle spokesperson commented: “Our plan was developed three years ago, and while good progress has been made, the scale of the challenge in respect of the health and social care workforce has grown.

“Vacancies are being experienced across almost all professional groups, and in some services this is beginning to impact our service offer.

“The decrease in the working age population is already starting to bite within the Health and Social Care Partnership.”

Comhairle figures reveal that the population of the Western Isles is expected to drop from a level of nearly 27,000 in 2017 to under 25,000 by 2027.

BY 2027 ELDERLY WILL RISE BY 44 PER CENT AND THOSE UNDER 64 WILL DECREASE BY 17 PER CENT

In contrast, by 2027 the elderly population (65+) is expected to rise by 44 per-cent, and the 20-64 age population is set to decrease by 17 per-cent.

There are currently more than 100 vacant posts across the local care system - twelve per-cent of all those employed, and fifteen per-cent of the existing workforce is aged over 60, and within five years of retirement.

The care sector locally has a staff turnover rate of more than ten per-cent per year.

The Comhairle’s spokesperson concluded: “Our strategic plan sets out a plan for investment in additional staffing across primary and community care over the next three years. We will need to employ more mental health workers, pharmacists, reablement workers, link workers, community nurses, GPs, Advanced Nurse Practitioners, social care workers, health and care support workers, and physiotherapists.

NEED 40 TO 50 NEW POSTS OVER THE NEXT THREE YEARS

“We anticipate that we might therefore need to grow the establishment by 40-50 posts over the next three years, to deliver on the primary care strategy and the proposed new care campus at Goathill.