Jersey's government fails to deliver on its pledge to recruit 100 carers

Jersey's Government failed to deliver on its pledge to recruit 100 more carers after only 25 joined the struggling sector.

The Help at Home Campaign began in October 2021 to help fill the huge number of vacancies. The States hoped it would highlight job benefits such as flexible working hours and ongoing professional developmental opportunities.

However the Minister for Health and Social Services, Deputy Richard Renouf, said: "Although we did not reach our ambitious aim of 100 new recruits it is positive to see that we have up to 33 new home carers who are dedicated to helping support Islanders in the community. I wish them the best of luck in their future careers."

Following the campaign, 57 islanders have applied for the role. Of these, 33 people have been offered employment and 25 people have already started.

A further 55 existing home carers got further training and have been upskilled.

John Le Quesne spent months in hospital due to a shortage of carers. He has now secured a care package and despite it costing more, he says it is a relief.

He said, "I've just spent two months in a room in a hospital on my own until I came out. There was nothing wrong with me, which is ridiculous. Now, while I was there, I found out from the consultants that there's 40 other people in the hospital who are in exactly the same predicament"

Lynda Cotillard, from Personal Touch Management, a care service provider added: “I think the campaign worked really well. We’ve since recruited a lady who had never thought about becoming a carer until she saw the adverts. She realised that there is a lot more to caring such as the social side of things and connecting with people. I hope the campaign will encourage more people to think about becoming a carer.”

The head of Jersey's Care Federation says she is disappointed by the outcome of the campaign. Cheryl Kennealy says "the money that was put forward was fantastic, but it hasn't actually produced the results that we were hoping for. I would say we could easily do with 50 to 100 people coming into the market, the amount of packages that are available.

We've now had a new team set up through government and family nursing to expedite discharges out of the hospital to ensure people are able to go back home, but that's a finite period of time. And then companies have to take over those packages. If they don't have capacity to do that, then how is that going to work?"