'Alarming' Swansea carer shortage prompts family SOS call

Families are being urged to carry out some nursing and caring duties to prevent services in the Swansea area from "reaching breaking point".

An "alarming" shortage of district nurse and care staff could be helped by fewer home visits and family support, the council and health board said.

Family members are being asked to learn tasks, such as changing dressings.

An official said services needed to be temporarily adapted to prioritise those with the most critical needs.

In a joint statement, Swansea Council and Swansea Bay health board said the staffing crisis was in part down to "large numbers of care workers seeking employment in other sectors".

They continued: "The ultimate aim is to prevent services from reaching breaking point by building a resilient network of support comprising of families, carers and statutory health and social care service provider."

People receiving services might get a phone call over the coming days, asking them to consider ways to help, they said.

This could include changing the time and duration of visits, and asking families to assist with meal preparation and taking medication.

A recruitment agency which provides domiciliary carers in Swansea said the staff shortage was caused by a "perfect storm".

"A lot of recruitment is required at the moment," said a spokesperson for the agency, which did not want to be named.

"We're seeing a perfect storm of people being unable to work due to the fact they're isolating, being pinged by the app and people being on leave over the summer holidays.

"Carers have worked non-stop through the pandemic and people are feeling they they do need to take the holidays off, rather than caving in and continuing to work."

The spokesperson added a lack of flexible "bank staff" due to being "excluded" during the pandemic was adding to the shortage.

Tanya Spriggs, a group nurse director at Swansea Bay University Health Board, said: "We have explored every available option to prevent our services from becoming overwhelmed.

"The next step is to consider how our services can be temporarily adapted to ensure those with the most critical care and support needs are prioritised.

"With caseloads constantly expanding, we may ask families and carers to work in partnership with us to deliver interventions in different ways.

"This will look and feel different to the pre-pandemic service, but will be as safe and robust as possible".

David Howes, the director of social services at Swansea council, added: "Every effort is being made to find creative solutions to help services stay afloat, but the situation is alarming and some difficult decisions are having to be made on a daily basis."