Common sense dictates that allowing more people into an island where resources are already stretched will inevitably lead to overcrowding.
Unfortunately, the Home Office flagging of an ‘overcrowded’ Britain has led to an overreaction, with the stepping up of their points based system for new immigrants.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/oct/21/migrants-cap-new-limit-reached
News sources have highlighted the difficulty for skilled workers to seek employment in the UK and sadly, this will only be made more difficult for all sectors following the new immigration cap.
Many care homes have recruited a substantial number of staff from non-EU countries due to their expertise in this field. The Home Office has now made this a near impossibility by severely restricting the number of people that can come in and carry out the role of carers.
While this may well satisfy Home Office and probably EU statistics it does nothing to ease the burden on care homes, particularly charities. How can the Minister with responsibility for migration put a greater emphasis on bringing skilled ballet dancers into the UK above ensuring the best care for older people?
At Nightingale, we already find it extremely difficult to recruit the right people to look after our 200 residents. Of 100 applications, it is not uncommon for us to find only one person suitable to work with us – because our sole raison d’etre is to provide the highest possible quality of care for our residents.
The negative perception of care work in the UK is one of the reasons we have always needed to recruit from overseas. Unless the status of the job is elevated in the UK this country’s elderly are going to suffer a huge shortage of high standard care. An urgent re-think on behalf of the government would be very welcome at this time.