social care

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Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire care workers ask council hopefuls for support

Care workers are calling on council candidates in Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire to fight for better pay in the sector if elected in May. Their union UNISON is writing to those standing for Luton Borough, Central Bedfordshire and Bedford councils, which are responsible for commissioning adult social care, asking them to sign its Who Cares? pledge. […]

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Pay staff fairly to tackle care recruitment crisis

Government ministers must improve care pay if they’re to succeed in filling huge numbers of vacancies, UNISON says today. The government has launched a new recruitment campaign ‘Care for Others. Make a Difference’ to boost the number of workers in adult social care as existing staff are forced to take time off to self-isolate or […]

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‘The general public is calling us heroes and going out and clapping for us – let’s put those claps into words’

Organisations and activists came together from across the political spectrum this week with a positive response to the crisis in social care. UNISON’s Pay Fair for Care rally urged one and all to stand up for care workers and keep up the pressure on government. The event – co-hosted with the Future Social Care Coalition, […]

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Essex care providers can act to stop rising Covid death toll

More than 100 people died in Essex care homes in the last week, new figures from the Office for National Statistics show. The 102 deaths reported to the Care Quality Commission between 23 and 29 January, up from 88 the week before, put Essex second only to Norfolk in local authority deaths. UNISON Eastern head of […]

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Government and care providers must act to bring down care home death tolls in Norfolk

More people died in Norfolk care homes than in any other local authority last week, figures from the Office for National Statistics show. 103 deaths were reported to the Care Quality Commission between 23 and 29 January, the stats show. UNISON Norfolk County branch secretary Jonathan Dunning said: “Nearly a year into this pandemic there […]

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Social care staff and service users deserve better than this mess

When Covid-19 struck we quickly turned our attention to the social care sector. It doesn’t take any great intellect or foresight to realise that when you’re faced with a virus that hits the elderly and vulnerable hardest, you need to do everything possible to make care homes and domiciliary care safe. Needless to say this […]

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Care workers in the east of England looking after sick and elderly still not getting regular Covid tests

Care home staff in the east of England are still not receiving weekly Covid tests despite government promises, according to a survey published today by UNISON. One in ten (10%) employees in residential care, who look after people aged over 65 and those with dementia, say they’ve not had regular swab checks. This fails to […]

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Black History Month: Irene’s story

Sarudzai Irene Dzvairo recounts her life story, from growing up in Zimbabwe to moving to the UK and working in social care

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‘We have come so far, so please let us stand together as we honour Black history’

To mark Black History Month, we invited one of our reps in Hertfordshire to say a few words about what it means to be Black in the UK today. My name is Rita Sarpong. I am a Black lady who was born in Ghana on June 1978. I traveled to the UK in 2003 to pursue my […]

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New TUC research shows a national care system is needed fast

New TUC research showing that seven in 10 councils in the East of England are spending less per capita on adult social care than 2010 shows we “can’t wait any longer” for a national care system, UNISON Eastern says today. The TUC report, Fixing Social Care shows that overall social care spending per head across […]

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Social care is broken but we have a plan to fix it

In his latest regional secretary’s blog, Tim Roberts sifts through the wreckage of our social care system and finds there’s still hope for something better

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A new vision of care after the crisis

UNISON has launched s new vision for a national social care service that will do away with the weak, fragmented system exposed by the Covid-19 pandemic. In Care After Covid: A Vision for Social Care, the union lays out the case for a national system that could properly deal with the day-to-day challenges of caring […]

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It’s time to end the “absurdity” of 15 minute care visits

Former Brookside actress and 60 Minute Makeover presenter Claire Sweeney features in a satire – commissioned by UNISON – highlighting the indignity suffered by thousands of elderly people because of 15-minute care visits. The two-minute video has been made to show how cutbacks are leaving vulnerable and elderly people short-changed. Government cuts to social care budgets mean rushed appointments […]

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