New data indicates that 97% of UK care organisations have issues with rostering while almost half (46%) of care staff are unhappy with pay.

As is well documented, the care sector in the UK is facing a significant workforce shortage, with more than one in ten care worker posts remaining unfilled, according to figures published by Skills for Care.

To dig a little deeper, business software specialist Advanced commissioned the Care Trends Report to understand the specific challenges care and support providers are facing and how they plan to address them. The survey took responses from 435 care and support provider owners, CEOs, managing directors, CFOs and COOs working in domiciliary care, residential care, supported living, extra care and retirement living.

The results also found that not only are care providers having issues with rostering existing staff, 60% identified a high number of unsuitable candidates when recruiting. These challenges have left care providers calling for more government support, with 59% of respondents seeking an increase in funding to help with pay and conditions for employees, and 57% wanting more schemes and campaigns designed to specifically recruit care workers.

The survey found that 48% of care providers find compliance and reportable event management a real issue due to their current IT systems being inadequate, potentially putting clients at risk. Furthermore, over one-third (34%) of care leadership has had previous incidents of missing records.

The results also showed that almost one-quarter (24%) of care leadership reported being stressed and unable to cope all the time, with that jumping to 66% in leaders running an organisation of 1,000+ employees experiencing the same issues. The survey also revealed that on average, 7% of care and support leaders are planning to leave their roles to deal with stress, with females more likely to leave at 13%, and males at 6%.

“We commissioned this survey to better understand the challenges facing the care sector and how technology can help to solve some of these issues,” said Ric Thompson, MD, Health and Care, at Advanced.

“These results demonstrate how technology can help manage the precious resources within the care sector and enable them to gain better control of their organisations through a much more detailed and granular view of data – freeing up more time of managers and staff to deal with the more pressing and urgent issues, and of course patient care.”

“It is vital that we give the care sector all the tools necessary in order to look after some of the most vulnerable in society while making sure those doing the job feel better prepared and cared for too.”