AQW 15856/22-27

Ms Connie Egan
Alliance Party
North Down

Tabled Date: 27/09/2024
Answered On Date: 17/10/2024
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister of Health for his assessment of the availability of social workers in the South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust.

Answer:

The availability of social workers continues to be a challenge across all Health and Social Care Trusts due to recruitment, retention and sickness absence issues.

The South Eastern Trust have reported that as of 31st August 2024 it employed 950 social workers. The Trust currently has approximately 30 Band 6 social work posts vacant, and 72 social workers absent due to sickness or maternity leave.

This impacts on social work availability in some services, resulting in the use of waiting lists/unallocated cases to manage referrals. The Trust has implemented a review and monitoring process to ensure the safe management of cases awaiting allocation within Children’s Services.

My department continues to work collaboratively with all five Health and Social Care Trusts to address vacancy and absence levels in social work services. As with other Trusts, in recent years, the South Eastern Trust have participated in a number of Department-led regional initiatives in an effort to stabilise the HSC social work workforce, including:

Ceasing the use of recruitment agency social workers in June 2023.

The fast-track recruitment of newly qualifying social workers into vacant posts.

Participating in regional recruitment exercises for Band 6 social work staff.

However, despite this activity there continues to be an inadequate supply of social workers to meet service demands, and my department annually reviews and seeks to increase the number of commissioned training places to meet these demands.