The UK government is passing regulations mandating Covid-19 vaccinations for care workers. A policy that will make profound shortage of care workers worse.

The deadline for residential care workers to be double vaccinated is the 11th of November under the government’s “no jab, no job” policy for the sector. It is expected that domiciliary care workers and NHS staff will be included in “due course”.

Delivering some care remotely

The delivery of some care remotely is a big part of the future of care. Most stakeholders agree that technology generally must play a significant role in how we handle the care crisis.

GenieConnect® is purposefully designed to allow the delivery of care remotely. One care worker operating remotely can perform up to nine welfare checks for every in-person visit.

This proposal would allow substantial increases in the efficiency of care delivery while reducing the number of care workers lost to the industry.

The future of 15-minute visits is virtual

Contrary to the Care Act 2014, it is estimated that 15% of English Local Authorities and roughly 30% in Wales and Scotland perform 15-minute in-person care visits. Care providers are resistant to this practice because it makes no sense economically from a care provider or care worker perspective.

National guidelines indicate that 30 minutes should be the minimum contact time for visits in person. Approximately 50% of care workers do not get paid for their travel time, so these visits reduce their income-earning potential and can lead to burnout. Care providers want to deliver the best care possible, and these visits are unsatisfactory for all concerned. Often, the care worker assigned for these visits may vary due to availability or logistics, and the visits tend to be rushed and impersonal.

Proposal

We propose to set up a commercial entity to deliver remote care at scale with the proper funding and support, called a Remote Care Centre Operator or RCCO. This could be set up as part of the Local Authority, or as a non-profit, or a non profit private entity. It will be staffed by professional care workers who either cannot or choose not to be vaccinated.

For every 3 full-time remote care workers we predict that 135 welfare checks, health checks, and medication compliance virtual visits can be performed daily. The local authority would pay the accepted rate for a 15-minute in-person care visit for each service user to their usual care provider as part of a more expansive care package arrangement. They would then outsource the appropriate number of virtual visits to the RCCO at the same rate. The RCCO would pay the subscription for each Genie companion or tablet provided covering the cost of the Genie service and its infrastructure.

Each remote care team would be the responsibility of a particular care provider from the regulatory perspective. If demand requires, two or more team members could be allocated to one care provider.

In any case, remote care team members would provide cover for each other to give flexibility in their working day. Regardless, it would always be obvious to the service user which care organisation they are dealing with.

Benefits

To the care provider

We are supporting care workers that would otherwise be lost to the care workforce. Therefore, this RETAINED ADDITIONAL CAPACITY will free up existing care workers for higher dependency service users.

To the RCCO

The RCCO could be its own profit centre, preferably as a Community Interest Company or not-for-profit entity.

To the Service user

Higher quality, more regular care from a recognised carer/provider with increased contact.

To the Local Authority

Reduction in care package wait list times by allocating some care calls remotely and a reduction in cost because the unwillingness of care providers to accept 15-minute visits means they often opt for 30 minutes and therefore pay more.