Two Thirds of UK Care Home Staff Admit Resident Quality of Care and Nutritional Needs are Being Overlooked Due to Outdated Procedures

The study, which polled hundreds of care home professionals across the country, found that two thirds of care home staff (66%), admitted the quality of resident care and the ability to cater properly for dietary and nutritional needs, are some of the key areas being side-lined as a result of obsolete practices. The study also revealed that more than half (54%) of care home workers felt staff happiness was overlooked, and 44% of workers attribute the high turnover of staff in the care industry to low levels of pay.

Specifically, 40% of care home workers felt they couldn’t provide the quality of care that they would like to due to the time they spend on admin. Over half (52%) of respondents, agreed that care home inspections simply add further pressure to their role, and would welcome a way to improve this process. More than a third of care home managers (32%) also said that keeping up with time intensive processes like day to day menu planning, allergens management, and recording resident data around nutrition and hydration, worries them. A further 41% were understandably concerned about the rising costs of food, energy and inflation, while 30% of care home workers identified supplier issues, food shortages and running out of supplies as a growing concern.

Importantly, 63% of care home managers link much of their day to day concerns to the wear and tear stresses placed upon their teams. Lack of staffing and resource also continues to be a worry for the sector, with 67% of care workers citing this as a key challenge. Only 6% of care home professionals said there is nothing that worries them in the day to day running of their care home.

Lack of time available to improve day to day quality of care is a clear issue. When asked what aspects of their working day they would spend more time on if they could reduce the amount of paperwork, more than half (56%) of care workers say they would like to improve the standard of resident care if they had more time in their day. Likewise, almost half (49%) of care professionals said they would improve staff satisfaction, suggesting that reducing admin would free up more time to focus on staff morale and happiness. A further 49% would like extra time in their day to be more creative with resident social events and 42% of care home professionals said they would be keen to spend more time on individual care planning.

Ollie Brand, CEO at Zupa explained: “Caring for the vulnerable and elderly is time-consuming and demanding. It requires specialist skills and knowledge. This study highlights that care home staff are having to deal with multiple challenges with little resource, and only so many hours in the day. There is also a direct correlation between what worries care home staff day to day and the quality of care they are physically able to deliver. Patchy reporting, outdated processes and a heavily reliance on manual updates, simply adds to the frustration and puts greater pressure on already stretched staff.”

This latest research highlights a clear relationship between what aspects of care are being overlooked and what staff would prioritise if they had more time in their day. Almost three quarters (73%), of care home professionals who said they would improve staff satisfaction if they had more time, also said staff happiness is side lined. A further 55% of those who would like to improve the quality of resident care with more time, also said care quality is overlooked due to time wasted on outdated processes.

Brand added, “Lack of staffing and resource is still a key concern for care homes. It’s clear that in many cases, that the adoption of automated, fit for purpose technology could help alleviate many of these day to day pressures and interestingly, those care professionals who said they would implement new technology if they had more time, are most likely to say that staff happiness, productivity of staff and quality of care are being sidelined.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors Survey independently conducted by Censuswide Ltd between 6-11 May 2022 and commissioned by Zupa Ltd. Surveying 330 care home professionals including 100 care home managers across the UK and Northern Ireland. Questions were multiple choice, and in some cases respondents were asked to tick all that apply. Censuswide abides by, and employs members of the Market Research Society, which is based on the ESOMAR principles.

For all media enquiries: Natalie Sanderson Sublime PR

About Zupa Zupa is a UK-based technology company, providing best-in-class catering management software. Designed to help customers to know and grow their business, Zupa’s flagship solution, Caternet, is one of the country’s leading catering management platforms and has been used by food service operators across the hospitality, leisure, education and care industry sectors for the last 14 years. From managers and buyers to chefs and catering teams, Caternet has been developed with the end user in mind, helping businesses to boost operational efficiencies and better control their costs. The one-stop-shop web portal is easy to use, quick to set up, and has no upfront capital costs – with access to multiple features and functionality from procurement through to purchasing, invoice processing, sales analysis, recipe and allergens management and reporting.