The Southern Trust’s homecare model is failing while vulnerable people remain without the care they need, the Independent Health and Care Providers (IHCP) has warned.
The intervention follows confirmation from Health Minister Mike Nesbitt that more staff are leaving the Trust’s homecare service than joining it.
In a written Assembly Answer, the Minister said the Trust had advised that it “continues to see a higher number of staff leaving the Homecare service than those starting”.
This is despite rolling recruitment, monthly recruitment events and targeted campaigns in areas experiencing higher levels of unmet need.
IHCP said the disclosure raises serious questions about the Trust’s homecare approach at a time when independent providers report that care packages are being restricted through brokerage, visits are being shortened and call frequency reduced.
IHCP Chief Executive Pauline Shepherd said:
“The Minister’s answer confirms that the Southern Trust is losing more homecare staff than it recruits while unmet need continues to grow.
“This is not successful modernisation. It is a model moving in the wrong direction while vulnerable people wait for care, families carry greater responsibility and hospital beds remain occupied because support is not available at home.
“The Trust cannot claim that homecare capacity is unavailable while restricting the release of packages to independent providers who have staff ready to deliver care.”
Figures already in the public domain indicate that the Trust’s internal homecare service cost approximately £39.74 per hour in 2023/24, while independent provision was commissioned at around half that rate.
The internal service also recorded more than 41,000 sickness days at a reported cost of more than £2.5 million and approximately 550 missed visits.
Ms Shepherd added:
“Cutting care packages or delaying homecare does not remove the need. It simply transfers the pressure to families, hospitals and emergency departments.
“There must now be an urgent independent review of the Southern Trust’s homecare approach, publication of the true level of unmet need and an end to blanket reductions in care packages or visit times without an individual reassessment.”