Care providers losing half a million a year on recruitment delays

New research reveals that 97% of organisations in the health and care sector are experiencing delays in the recruitment process that are severely affecting business 

Digidentity, a digital identity platform for healthcare providers, governments and businesses, has published new and startling research which reveals that 97% of organisations in the health and social care sector are experiencing delays in the recruitment process. 

These delays, in turn, are having significant and harsh impacts on business and staff. 

The research conducted by Digidentity shows that delays in the recruitment process is impacting staff in a number of significant ways, such as a lack of productivity, inefficiencies in operations and lowered staff morale.  

Not only are the recruitment process delays having adverse effects on the emotional and phycological wellbeing of staff, not to mention hamstringing their ability to deliver the level of person-centred care they would wish, but the delays are also causing a significant financial strain on health and social care providers.  

According to the research, each organisation is spending nearly £544,000 annually on locums and overtime in an effort to fill staffing gaps. 

There are a number of circumstantial reasons as to why the health and social care sector is struggling with staff shortages and having to try and find ways to plug gaps in staffing in care homes. For example, one of the biggest reasons for short staffing currently is the job losses as a result of the pandemic.  

During the pandemic, nursing homes lost approximately 210,000 staff. Care homes since then have been hiring staff on an average of 3,700 employees per month, which means that if the industry continues to hire at this rate, nursing home staff levels will not return to pre-pandemic levels until 2027.  

Needless to say, demands on health and social care services increase as the years go on, as people live longer, as dementia rates continue to increase and as a result more older people require care provision and needs become increasingly complex , the staffing gaps that currently exist may well widen further and further as time goes on as the care industry struggles to reset to a position that may no longer exist.  

But there are answers to both staff shortages and temporary staffing gaps caused by a delay in the recruitment process. While many within the industry are calling for a complete overhaul of the care industry to make the profession more attractive through professional development, long-term career prospects and a higher benchmark of wages, making best use of the resources care homes have right now is one of the key factors in ensuring there is always a continuity of outstanding care.