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Coronavirus response sees 100 redeployed workers support effort to carry out 17,300 home care visits to vulnerable

Published: Wednesday, 20th May 2020

Social care teams have made more than 17,300 visits to support vulnerable people in their homes in the two months since coronavirus lockdown measures came into effect.

In that time, the Stoke-on-Trent City Council teams have made a total of 17,311 visits, delivering 8,500 hours of personal care and re-enablement support to help 233 of the city’s most vulnerable residents.

A total of 174 staff have delivered the care, with 100 of these being employees that have been redeployed and retrained from other council services that have temporarily suspended due to the lockdown.

Council leader Abi Brown said: “Our teams provide personal care and re-enablement support all year round to help vulnerable people living in their own homes. This work has drastically increased during the pandemic as we have worked in partnership with local hospitals and the NHS to support people in returning home as quickly as possible, to prevent the risk of exposure to and spread of the coronavirus.

“Redeployed staff have been given in-house training on the safe handling of people, adult safeguarding, infection control, safe administration of medication and administration of medication via different routes – not just tablets, but also eye drops, or a cream. They are helping residents with personal care, meal preparation, getting up in the morning and putting to bed, prompting and giving medication.

“It has been a huge operation for our social care teams to meet the needs of residents and to ensure we have the staff in place to do that. The support of our vastly experienced employees in leading this work has been fantastic, and staff that have been retrained deserve huge credit for making such an important contribution in helping the lives of city residents at this most testing of times.”

Meanwhile, #StokeCares, a campaign by the council to recruit casual care workers, has attracted 35 applications from members of the public, with five people starting in post this week. The campaign is for caring, compassionate, honest, reliable people to come forward and help the council to continue to deliver essential care.

The roles are flexible and can include weekend and evening work and can be adapted to people's personal circumstances. A background in care would be helpful but is not essential as training will be provided by experienced city council staff.

Personal protective equipment will also be provided if carers are to work with anyone with Covid-19 symptoms. Those providing personal care such as bathing and helping people to go to the toilet will also be given an additional monthly payment on top of the normal wage which is expected to be an additional £200 a month for someone who works full-time.

People can call 01782 238019 or visit https://www.stoke.gov.uk/jobs and search for casual care worker (personal wellbeing assistant).

For more information and advice on coronavirus (Covid-19) please visit Public Health England:

https://publichealthmatters.blog.gov.uk/2020/01/23/wuhan-novel-coronavirus-what-you-need-to-know/ and the NHS: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/.

All residents are reminded about the critical importance of regular handwashing with soap and hot water for 20 seconds. The significance of this action cannot be underestimated.

For more information on digital services, visit www.stoke.gov.uk, download the MyStoke App, or follow the city council’s social media channels.

 

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For all media enquiries please contact Andrew Brunt in the Communications Department at Stoke-on-Trent City Council on 01782 232671.

www.stoke.gov.uk/news

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