Leeds health bosses agree to supply NHS staff to work in care homes during Covid-19 pandemic

The "unusual" measure follows a request to healthcare providers across the region to look at the potential for "workforce sharing arrangements" to help "bolster care home resilience" in the city.

The Yorkshire Evening Post understands no 'workforce sharing' has yet needed to take place.

Union bosses at the Royal College of Nursing described the agreement as "unusual" and said it "cannot be a long term staffing solution" to what they call an "on-going staffing crisis" in both health and social care sectors.

Most care homes in Leeds are privately-owned but a handful are council-owned.

The sector has been particularly hard hit with the Covid-19 pandemic, with recent council figures showing 47 care homes in Leeds suffered from Covid-19 outbreaks at the virus's peak.

A raft of measures have been brought in nationally to ensure safety of care in the sector - with this latest agreement by health chiefs in Leeds aiming to provide an extra layer of support to the city's care homes if needed.

Documents show the matter was discussed at a recent board meeting of the Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust which heard it would be a mix of additional staff and existing staff who "choose to undertake additional shifts in care homes".

Chief executive Thea Stein told the meeting it was "not yet clear" how many care homes would ask for support and that it might not only involve clinical staff.

The minutes read: "She also observed that care homes were private businesses and it was not a fundamental role of the NHS to bolster private sector partners."

The meeting heard of the need to have a "big enough pool of staff available" to deploy into care homes, otherwise there might be a "detrimental effect on existing services".

A funding stream to support the cost of paying deployed staff and to cover the knock-on costs for the trust had yet to be agreed, the meeting heard, but Steph Lawrence, executive director of nursing said she was confident one would be found.

The board agreed 'in principle' to the workforce sharing scheme and to be the lead employer for those working in care homes.

The move has been welcomed by health and care services' watchdog Healthwatch Leeds. Its CEO Hannah Davies said: "Supporting care homes and ensuring that people living in care homes are supported to stay well throughout Covid is a city priority and a key issue for us at Healthwatch Leeds."

But Glenn Turp, regional director in Yorkshire for the Royal College of Nursing union said the issue highlights the need for the Government to "urgently" tackle the sectors' "staffing crisis".

He said: “The challenges facing the NHS and social care during these difficult times are well known. Staff across both health and social care have been under enormous pressure and strain over the past weeks and months.

“It’s no surprise, though unusual, that the NHS is looking at temporary arrangements to share staff across local systems on a voluntary basis. Patient safety however is paramount. Any workforce sharing arrangements must ensure safe staffing levels across the system to protect patients and staff alike.

“This isn’t and can’t be a long-term solution. The NHS and social care are facing an on-going staffing crisis, with some 40,000 nursing vacancies in the NHS alone. Years of under-investment and inequities across health and social care terms and conditions for staff means that social care has been left exposed.

“Staff were exhausted before the coronavirus pandemic and this situation has made it worse. It is imperative that the government urgently tackles the staffing crisis facing both the NHS and social care”.

But Hannah Davies, CEO of Healthwatch Leeds, the health and care services watchdog, welcomed the move and said: "Supporting care homes and ensuring that people living in care homes are supported to stay well throughout Covid is a city priority and a key issue for us at Healthwatch Leeds.

"We fully support health and care staff working together in Leeds to make sure that people get the support they need when they need it."

Leeds City Council told the Yorkshire Evening Post that there had been no need yet to draw on NHS staff to fill gaps in staffing in care homes in Leeds.

A spokeswoman said: "At the start of the Covid pandemic, we were anticipating requests from care homes to support them with staffing levels, and we sought to identify and subsequently deploy NHS staff into care homes, through Leeds Community Healthcare Trust.

"However we have had very few care homes who have expressed any concerns about having sufficient staffing capacity.

"Where care homes have had staff absence, they have implemented their contingency plans and have been able to secure additional staffing, where required, from staffing agencies."

She stressed agency staff have followed PPE and infection-prevention measures and "where possible" had been working within one designated care home, to avoid spreading infection.

She added: "In Leeds, we have our internal ‘We Care Academy’ which has been successful in recruiting and training new care staff, and a number of these new staff have been deployed into care homes. We therefore have not needed to draw on NHS staff for this purpose yet."

Daniel Hartley, director of workforce for NHS England and NHS Improvement in the North East and Yorkshire - the organisations which initially requested the need to explore workforce sharing arrangements, said: “All of us owe a great deal to our fantastic health and care staff who have delivered care tirelessly throughout the COVID-19 outbreak despite the pressures and it is right that we work with local systems to maximise the resilience of the health and care workforce across the region.”

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