For this year’s Professional Care Workers’ Week (16 – 20 September), Brandon leadership development coordinator and locality manager, Deb McNally, explores how Brandon is making sure all our colleagues have a career they can be proud of.
National Professional Care Workers’ Week honours the essential contributions of care workers and aims to elevate their profile across the UK.
Working in social care is all about supporting people to live the life they choose. We are driven by the needs and wishes of the people we support and need to be adaptable, highly skilled and committed to work in a person-centred way.
We are skilled professionals. We know it – and we want everyone to know it!
Addressing the challenges of our profession
The challenge we are addressing for colleagues in social care is threefold:
- We want our staff to know they are valued and have many options for a fulfilling career – whether that’s through promotion, changing roles, or simply performing well in the role they enjoy.
- We want people who don’t yet work in social care, to view a role in our sector as a professional career through which they can really make a difference.
- And of course, we want the Government to acknowledge this through recognition of our skills and expertise. This needs to be at the forefront of social care reform – to ensure people continue to join the care sector and importantly, remain in it.
Brandon Trust is committed to get the message across on all three issues and we are playing a part in influencing the future of social care.
Social care reform – Brandon’s role
Continuous work goes on in the background, for example, lobbying Government through our membership of the More Than A Provider collaborative, alongside United Response, Dimensions, Certitude, MacIntyre and Choice Support.
Colleagues at Brandon are also working alongside the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), to test possible reforms to care sector roles. We need those who make decisions about social care to see our work in action – to see it, hear it, and feel it. We need decision-makers to understand the challenges we face and to really appreciate the variety and depth of skills needed to provide exceptional care, as well as witness the great work we do day in, day out.
This is what happened in August this year, when four representatives from the DHSC visited to experience firsthand, a day in the life of supported living in Oxfordshire.
They met and spoke with support workers, team leaders, and locality managers at Brandon to discuss the realities of working in social care. I also had a captive audience in my car as we drove around the countryside to different locations – so I made the most of that!
The DHSC team also enjoyed the company of many of the people we support for lunch, cups of tea, and being shown around their homes. It was a day they will remember for a long time and it’s safe to say, they left with a lot to ponder – it was quite the day for revelations!
Care workforce pathway
The Government’s care workforce pathway for adult social care is part of the national social care reforms being considered, and Brandon is at the forefront of testing what future career paths in social care might look like.
This would include how to recognise those who work to a high standard within their role and how others may wish to progress on to different roles within social care.
Our colleagues in Cornwall have been busy helping us to test this part of the reforms and provide feedback directly to the DHSC on the proposals they are considering.
Looking to the future – be proud!
Brandon will continue to lobby ministers to press for national recognition of the professional standards we already achieve in social care.
We will also continue to collaborate and work with the Government and other social care providers, to influence the future of social care and to ensure we are rightly recognised and valued as the health professionals we are.
We have important, challenging, rewarding roles to play in our communities, supporting people to live their chosen lives.
We should all be proud of what we do and together, I know we can influence the future of social care for the better.
Deb McNally
Leadership Development Coordinator and Locality Manager
