'Social Care' recruitment drive by DoH

The government has launched a new drive to recruit more people to work in the "caring careers".
The Department of Health (DoH) said there was a growing interest in social work and social care jobs.

Its national recruitment information line received more than 160,000 calls since May 2002 - with 40,000 of these inquiries in 2005.
Seven out of 10 of those who asked about social care work had gained employment in the profession or were looking for a suitable vacancy. More than 4,000 people started the new social work degree in 2004 after it was launched three years ago.
The DoH said research showed a key obstacle to recruiting social workers and care staff was lack of public understanding about what they do.
TV, press and radio ads during February and March will aim to show the diversity of careers and the benefits to workers.
Care Services Minister Liam Byrne said: "The aim of our campaign is to make people think seriously about social work and social care as career options.
"The social care professions play a vital role in caring for vulnerable groups. Social care workers deal with a wide range of clients including young people, older people and people with physical and learning disabilities."
Recently the Government announced plans to register, train and vet more than 750,000 care workers in England who look after vulnerable older people, adults and children. It is hoped that registering care staff, in a similar way to social workers, and making sure they are properly trained will combat problems such as elder abuse.


Social care staff should be on a par with other health workers and entitled to the same professional status as nurses and other healthcare professionals, according to Clare Smith, director of HR at leading disablity disability charity Leonard
"This scheme will herald a major leap in the right direction in recognising the essential contribution that social care staff make to our society," said Smith. "But it needs to be part of a wider effort to make social care a genuine career choice for people across the UK."
"That professionalism must be recognised not only by registration, but by increased investment in the sector to help increase pay, by developing real career paths in social care and by recognising and publicising the incredible work performed by social care workers every day," she added.