Thank you for everything you have done

Our CEO Oonagh Smyth reflects on a challenging year and expresses thanks to everyone working in adult social care.

As CEO of Skills for Care I wanted to do two things as we head towards the end of a year that has been uniquely challenging and tough for everyone who works in adult social care.

The first is to offer, on behalf of all of us at Skills for Care, our thanks to the workforce for everything you have done to keep people safe and well. We know that we have lost a lot of people this year, and our thoughts are with families, but without your efforts it would have been much, much worse.

It is the commitment of our 20,000 plus employers and the tireless professionalism of the workforce that has prevented the system from collapsing. That effort has been recognised by the public and 2021 will see us build on that goodwill as we think about what social care will look like over the next five, 10 and 15 years.

The second thing we want to do is not only offer our thanks but remind ourselves of what we have learnt through the pandemic, and what practical support we can offer as we enter another period of restrictions.

Appreciation is important, but so is sharing learning that might help organisations, and reminding people of the free online tools that we have on our website that can help over the next few months. We’ve developed those tools after consultation with the sector and they’ve proved very popular.

So throughout December we will be using our online platforms to put the spotlight on our resources to support registered managers, look at how you can develop staff during these challenging times and share effective local recruitment initiatives you could think about using.

Hope is on the horizon as effective vaccines become available, but in the meantime our sector faces a challenging winter so please use as much of our online offer as you can.

Print this page