The past week has brought several significant announcements affecting health and social care in the UK. Whilst much of the focus has been on the NHS, the implications reach far beyond hospital walls into nursing homes, supported living services, children’s residentials and mental health settings. Here’s what care leaders and wider care sector, need to know – and why it matters.
Confronting racism in care settings
Health Secretary Wes Streeting made headlines this week with a stark warning: racism towards healthcare staff has become “socially acceptable”. Speaking alongside NHS chief executive Sir Jim Mackey, Streeting expressed shock at the levels of abuse, harassment and violence facing workers across the health service.
For care managers, this isn’t just an NHS problem. Many of you will recognise these challenges in your own settings. Staff from ethnic minority backgrounds often form the backbone of social care, yet they can face discrimination from service users, families and sometimes colleagues. The question isn’t whether this happens – it’s what we’re doing about it.
Creating a culture where racist behaviour is challenged immediately, where staff feel supported to report incidents, and where consequences are clear and consistent requires active leadership. It means having difficult conversations with service users and families, even when it feels uncomfortable. As Streeting put it, we need to put the “ugly racist sentiment that’s found expression in our country back in its box”.
The timing of these comments is particularly significant. New research shows babies born to Black mothers are 81% more likely to die in neonatal care compared to those born to white mothers. Health inequalities don’t exist in isolation – they reflect systemic issues that affect care quality across all settings.
The hidden cost of workplace health
A landmark government review published this week reveals the scale of Britain’s worklessness crisis – and the role employers must play in addressing it. The Keep Britain Working review, led by former John Lewis chair Sir Charlie Mayfield, found that health-related worklessness costs the UK economy £85 billion annually. To tackle this, employers will need to invest £6 billion per year supporting staff health and wellbeing.
Nearly one in five working-age adults – over nine million people – are now economically inactive, with almost three million citing long-term sickness as the main reason. This is the highest level on record.
For care providers already operating on tight margins, the £6 billion figure might seem daunting. But the review’s central message is clear: prevention is cheaper than cure. When staff become too unwell to work, the costs multiply – recruitment, training, agency cover, reduced continuity of care, and the impact on team morale.
The review calls for a “drastic expansion in occupational health” to prevent hundreds of thousands of people falling out of the workforce each year. In practical terms, this means moving beyond basic compliance towards genuinely supportive workplace practices. Are you offering flexible working for staff managing chronic conditions? Do you have early intervention support for mental health? Are you creating an environment where people feel able to discuss health concerns before they reach crisis point?
NHS Confederation chief executive Matthew Taylor welcomed the review, highlighting the “vital role” employers play in “delivering the shift from treatment to prevention – by creating healthier workplaces and supporting staff to stay well and in work.”
This isn’t just about being a good employer – though that matters. It’s about sustainability. The care sector’s workforce challenges are well documented. Keeping experienced staff healthy and in work is as important as recruiting new ones.
When systems fail: lessons in implementation
Nottingham University Hospitals Trust declared a critical incident this week following technical problems with its new electronic patient record system. The Nervecentre EPR rollout experienced prolonged downtime, compounding existing pressures from high demand, staffing challenges and patient flow.
Digital transformation is coming to social care too, with increasing requirements for electronic records, digital care planning and data sharing. The Nottingham situation offers a cautionary tale: technology is only as good as its implementation.
When systems fail, the impact cascades. Staff revert to paper, information gets lost, handovers take longer, and the risk of errors increases. In a critical care environment, this can be dangerous. In social care settings, it can be equally problematic – missed medications, incomplete care records, safeguarding concerns that aren’t flagged.
The lesson? Implementation matters as much as the technology itself. Adequate testing, staff training, contingency planning and realistic timescales aren’t optional extras – they’re essential safeguards.
The leadership challenge
Perhaps the most sobering development this week was the Care Quality Commission’s rating of Mid and South Essex Foundation Trust as inadequate for leadership, citing “serious and systemic failures”.
The CQC’s findings paint a familiar picture for anyone who has worked in struggling organisations. Staff reported a culture where “poor behaviours went unchallenged, and where financial pressures were perceived to take priority over quality and safety”. People felt “disconnected from senior leaders, undervalued, and unable to raise concerns without fear”.
These aren’t just NHS problems. Care providers face the same pressures – tight budgets, staffing shortages, regulatory demands and the constant tension between financial sustainability and quality care.
What separates good organisations from failing ones isn’t the absence of pressure – it’s how leaders respond to it. Do financial constraints become an excuse for poor practice, or a catalyst for creative problem-solving? Are staff voices heard and valued, or dismissed and ignored? When concerns are raised, are they met with defensiveness or genuine curiosity?
The CQC noted that despite the serious failings, leaders had demonstrated “integrity and compassion”, acknowledging that “the scale of the challenge facing the trust required continued energy, enthusiasm, and tenacity”. Leadership in health and social care has never been easy. Right now, it’s harder than ever.
Looking ahead
These developments – racism in healthcare, workforce health, digital implementation and leadership culture – aren’t separate issues. They’re interconnected challenges that require thoughtful, sustained responses.
As care sector leaders, you’re navigating the same pressures as your NHS colleagues, often with fewer resources and less public attention. But the principles remain the same: create cultures where people are valued and protected, invest in workforce health and wellbeing, implement change carefully and thoughtfully, and lead with integrity even when it’s difficult.
The coming months will bring further challenges, not least the Chancellor’s budget on 26 November. But understanding the broader context – the issues affecting health and care across all settings – helps us respond more effectively to whatever comes next.
For more details on these developments, see the NHS Confederation’s latest sector update.
To contact us, please send a message here
