Fears over Christmas service cuts as Falkirk social care battles 20% staff absence

And that could mean asking people receiving care to reduce the number of visits they get from carers over the next few weeks, particularly during the festive period.

Patricia Cassidy, chief officer of the Health and Social Care Partnership told the Integrated Joint Board they were dealing with a "real challenge".

She said: "We've got a 20 per cent absence rate across our care staff which is extremely challenging.

"We're in discussion with colleagues in the council about how we can get support to keep our care services running at the moment."

In her report to the IJB, which oversees health and social care services locally, she said the impact of staff shortages is being felt across the system, with some people being unable to leave hospital because they could not get packages of care put in place.

The delayed discharge figures have also been affected by some care homes being closed to admissions.

There are also delays because anyone who is admitted to a care home need to have had two negative tests before they are admitted and they also need to self-isolate for 14 days, which is stretching staffing in care homes too.

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Ms Cassidy said that the advice from Public Health was that day care services should not re-open while the area is Level 3, but in any case the staffing would make it impossible.

"We've re-established our 'daily huddle' and mobilisation centre to manage the services safely but we are - and have - deployed some of the staff who would work in day centres into other settings.

"We need to keep prioritising and re-prioritising where we deploy our staff," she said.

She told the board that they were very aware of the effect that all of this could have on individuals who need care and their families.

"We are reaching out and trying to provide support and a service to those families that need it," she said.

Councillor Allyson Black said she was also concerned about the difficulties facing carers at home who did not the usual support due to the pandemic and asked if volunteers could be used for people who just need someone to talk to.

Ms Cassidy said they were very aware of the situation and were looking at options including working with volunteers.

"We need to do what we can to support carers because we may get to the point within the next few weeks where we are going out to families to ask them if we could reduce a care package, if it's safe to do so," she said.

Lorraine Paterson, head of integration, said they spoke to the voluntary sector every day but they are also affected by test and protect.

"They're also trying to keep services going in a difficult time but we do have a link so we can speak to each other and offer support," she said.

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