Councils in Gwent are alerting residents who receive community health and social care to expect possible changes in their support because of high demand on services and staff shortages.
A combination of the move to COVID-19 Alert Level 0, which has meant additional requests for community care, together with the need for staff to take leave over the summer holidays, has increased pressure on community care services across Wales.
Councils in Gwent are prioritising resources within teams and running recruitment campaigns to deal with staff shortages. However, it is possible there will be some changes to the support people receive, and families may be asked to assist community care providers
Blaenau Gwent Council’s Director of Social Services, Damien McCann, said: “Our teams across Gwent are facing severe pressures. There are increasing demands for our services which have been exacerbated by the COVID 19 pandemic. This is combined with long and short-term staff absences and vacancies.
“Every effort is being made to help services stay afloat, but the situation is concerning, and some difficult decisions are having to be made daily.
“The aim is to protect vulnerable members of our society by preventing services from reaching breaking point.
“We are asking individuals, families and carers to work in partnership with us, and to be understanding towards our staff.”
Nick Wood, Executive Director of Primary, Community and Mental Health Services at Aneurin Bevan University Health Board, said: “We are working with our partners in social care to explore every opportunity to support local people with their ongoing care needs, either in their own homes or through the significant network of service providers in the area.
“We recognise the huge challenges at this time with the availability of domiciliary care staff and the increased demand for care and support, and we would encourage all communities to work with us and the community services teams.
“Services are under intense pressure and this is likely to continue for the short to medium term as we work with social care partners to increase capacity in the community and enable changes to the way in which services are delivered as we recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.”
If anyone is interested in a career in social care, there are job opportunities across the sector. For more information visit www.wecare.wales or https://www.blaenau-gwent.gov.uk/en/home/.