Care homes in Powys are experiencing short-term staff shortages because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Powys County Council posted a notice to its website appealing for volunteers where it said that the lack of staff can put the care and wellbeing of frail and vulnerable residents at risk.

The notice said that care homes have increasingly needed help with the short-term staff cover and that these situations happen at “short notice” and must be “responded to urgently”.

The notice said: “To meet this need we are setting up a ‘Care Homes Emergency Response Team’ of Council staff who have volunteered to be deployed to help in a care home staffing crisis.  

“In the event of needing to be deployed members will be temporarily released from their normal Council work duties to do this. The Team members will only be deployed in a care home as a final measure once all other alternatives have been exhausted by the Council.”

Powys said that there will be three “emergency response teams” in north, mid and south Powys, but that staff may need to be deployed outside of their individual areas in the event of an emergency.

Each team will consist of five to six staff who have volunteered for the role.

The notice said: “The teams will only be deployed to provide short term emergency staff cover - typically for a period of 2-5 days. In practice only 1 or 2 Team members may need to be deployed on any given date/shift.

“Care homes typically operate 8-hour Morning, Afternoon and Night time shift patterns. The shifts to be covered by PCC staff will be agreed with the home to accommodate the home’s needs but also the circumstances of the staff to be deployed.”

The duties to be undertaken will depend on the staff shortages being experienced by the care home.

They may include (but not be limited to):

• Cleaning and/or cooking

• General resident support (making teas/coffees etc, providing resident activities, etc.)

• and (where staff have experience/training) support care home staff with residents’ care

Staff who volunteer to be a member of the ’Emergency Response Team’ need to:​

• Be able to be deployed at short notice and be willing to cover night shifts or weekend shifts​

• Agree to work in settings that are experiencing a Covid-19 outbreak​

• Be willing to work at any care home location in their team’s ’area’​

• Have their own transport to and from the place of deployment​

• Be fully Covid-19 vaccinated​

• Agree to undertake Covid-19 lateral flow tests during their period of deployment and following deployment in accordance with Welsh Government regulations

• Have a current appropriate DBS check​

For more details about requirements for carers, including testing requirements, visit the Welsh Government website’s section Covid-19 contacts: guidance for health and social care staff by clicking here.

If you want to volunteer to be a ‘Care Homes Emergency Response Team’ member complete the form on the Powys council website and it will contact you directly.