Domiciliary care in the spotlight at REC conference

A Fair Price for Care is the theme of the annual Domiciliary Care Conference being organised by the Nursing and Social Care sector group of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC).

The half-day conference being held on Thursday November 15th at the Royal College of Physicians in Regents Park, London will focus on key issues facing the sector including whether low charges given by some local authorities has affected the standard of care provided.

The conference will also explore how agencies can ensure they benefit from the registration of care workers with the General Social Care Council (GSCC) and also who is to benefit from the electronic monitoring of care workers.

Among the conference speakers will be Mike Wardle, Acting Chief Executive Officer of the GSCC; Simon Morrison from the Home Office who will be speaking on the new Independent Safeguarding Authority Policy and also Glen Mason from the Department of Health.

Also attending will be Alison Smith, winner of the Agency Care Worker of the Year category of the 2007 One in a Million Award, the highlight of National Temporary Workers Week, who will be on a panel to discuss some of the issues raised.

Peter Cullimore, Chair of the RECís Nursing and Social Care sector group said of the conference: ìIn spite of a number of Government publicity campaigns, domiciliary care remains a poor relation both in terms of the status of the workers and of their rates of pay.

ìThe situation has been made appreciably worse by the tight strictures on finance which are being applied by many local authorities. Many domiciliary care agencies rely 100 per cent on work from local authorities and unless they can obtain a reasonable return, they are not in a position to raise the pay of their care workers.î

Peter added: ìThis conference will give members a chance to discuss with our distinguished team of speakers these issues which are giving us such cause for concern.

ìThey include the GSCCís imminent care workersí registration scheme, which comes at a time when the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) has also been established to help raise the status of care workers.î

The conference takes place from 9am until 2pm. Further details, including a booking form are available from Toni Devlin, REC, 020 7935 4736, toni.devlin@rec.uk.com.