| |
Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
 | |
|
Battle on the home care front
— perceptions of home care workers of factors influencing staff retention in Northern Ireland | | Author(s) | Geraldine Fleming, Brian J Taylor |
| Journal title | Health and Social Care in the Community, vol 15, no 1, January 2007 |
| Pages | pp 67-76 |
| Source | http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/hsc |
| Keywords | Care support workers ; Attitude ; Staff turnover ; Domiciliary services ; Cross sectional surveys ; Northern Ireland. |
| Annotation | The provision of home care services is a key component in avoiding inappropriate admission of older people to institutional care and preventing delayed discharge from hospital. However, there is a growing problem of retention of home care workers (HCWs), creating problems for delivering this increasingly essential service. This study was based in a health and social services trust in Northern Ireland, and was designed to explore the growing problem of retention of HCWs from their own perspective. The cross-sectional survey design used a convenience sample, and questionnaires were completed by 45 HCWs (out of 147; response rate 31%). Focus groups in which 12 HCWs participated were used to explore emerging themes. The variables studied were HCWs' perspectives on: reasons for considering leaving; working hours; supervision and support, and qualifications and training; workload pressures; client attitudes; pay; and job satisfaction. The main reasons given by HCWs for dissatisfaction and considering leaving were (in rank order): irregular and antisocial hours; lack of management support; and workload pressures. Commitment to caring seemed to be the reason why pay did not feature more highly for those who did not leave. HCWs are being required to provide care for people with ever more complex health and social care needs, and in an environment increasingly regulated in terms of quality and risk. This makes an increasingly demanding job, which does not seem to be recognised in the training and working conditions of HCWs. The most significant factors identified give scope for service managers to improve the retention of HCWs. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-070413244 A |
| Classmark | QRS: DP: WJ7: N: 3KB: 9Y |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
|
| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
| |
|