More than half of councils in England had to reduce the level of care and support they provided to vulnerable residents in January, because of growing numbers of social care staff on sick leave or isolating because of the Omicron variant.
A survey by the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services found that, of the 94 councils that responded, 49 took at least one exceptional measure to prioritise care and assess risk for at least some of their area, for some of the time.
Measures taken included prioritising life-sustaining care, such as supporting someone to eat over supporting someone to get out of bed or complete other activities.
This also included being unable to undertake reviews of risk, or relying on the views of providers, family carers or people using services themselves to identify risks, and leaving people with dementia, learning disabilities or poor mental health isolated or alone for longer periods than usual.
“Reducing care and support services is the last thing councils want to do,” said Cllr David Fothergill, Chairman of the LGA’s Community Wellbeing Board.
“No-one receiving services should have to go without, but pre-existing workforce shortages have been compounded by staff absences caused by Omicron, leaving some councils with no choice but to prioritise people in their care.
“These sobering findings reinforce what we have long said about the urgent need to address immediate pressures facing social care now, including on capacity, recruitment and retention, care worker pay, and on unmet and under-met need. A greater proportion of the new health and social care levy should go directly towards social care upfront, to reflect the urgency of the situation and help deal with these immediate pressures.”