Community care services under pressure due to high demand and staff shortages

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

Monmouthshire County Council Chief Officer for Social Care, Safeguarding and Health Julie Boothroyd, said: "Our teams across Gwent are facing severe pressures but ensuring our residents are the top priority still remains our focus. With staffing over the holidays putting a strain on resources and the extra pressures brought on the pandemic, we asking our communities, 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."