By Gavin Mackintosh-
Richard Branson’s Virgin Care is run core adult social work services in Bath and North East Somerset, following a £700m contract to reshape community health and social care services was approved last night.
As from next April 2017, Virgin will run more than 200 services under the deal including three statutory services – adult social care, continuing healthcare and children’s community health. The land mark deal is the first time a privately-owned profit-making firm will be involved in adult social work functions.
Social work have previously been run by local authority-owned trading companies, and not-for-profit social enterprises connected with social services departments.
Since 2011 Bath’s adult social care services has been run by Sirona Care for the past 5 years, following the council’s decision to elect an outsource provision. Sirona care is a not-for-profit social enterprise, after the council opted to outsource provision. Richard Branson’s virgin care is very likely to enhance the quality of social care and alleviate some of the extra pressures social workers face in Somerset, and it might be a good idea if Richard Branson can extend his hands to other social services in the country.
The eye of media.com heard that Virgin Care was successful over a rival bid from a consortium of local services led by Sirona Care. Social services has always needed a financial boost to assist the very burdensome work load many social services have to deal with. The heavy work load has often led to some social workers trying to cut corners, many times leading to a series of negligent conducts that have resulted in disciplinary actions by the HCPC panel.
Last week, the department of health announced plans to establish an independent regulator to regulate social services. which will be overseen by the department of health itself. The contract with Richard Branson’s virgin care appears to be a progressive move that will significantly move social services forward, however the Virgin contract has sparked criticism from unions, social work leaders and unions.
Earlier this week Lewis Carson from Unison said the union’s members were opposed to a profit-making firm taking over services. Carson said:
“We’re fighting to oppose the contract. We have concerns about what this means for staff conditions and service delivery.
“From past experience we know staff terms and conditions can be targeted for savings. Our members are passionate about the care they deliver and there are a lot of unanswered questions about what this will mean in terms of teams, workloads and day-to-day work. We’re extremely concerned.”
Those concerns should be addressed by Richard Branson’s virgin care through dialogue. The eye of media.com contacted Richard Branson’s Virgin care for comment, and await a response in due course.