King's College London

Community Care reports on the findings of the Health and Social Care Workforce Research Study, which is led by Ulster University, and interviews Prof Jill Manthorpe of King's, who is co-investigator on the project.

Recently published, the report from phase three of the study, covering May to July 2021, found social workers were more likely to feel overwhelmed, than social care workers, nurses, midwives and allied health professionals, with 69.4% reporting this.

Rob Preston, of the online publication, quotes Prof Manthorpe saying that “a long period of stress takes its toll” and that social workers found it harder to cope in the first half of 2021 compared to earlier in the pandemic because it was no longer seen as a “short-term” emergency. Assessments were a particularly difficult aspect of the social worker role to undertake remotely.

The Health and Social Care Workforce Research Study has conducted three online surveys and a series of focus groups. It has published three reports and the latest of four peer review journal articles from the study (all open access) has just come out in The British Journal of Social Work. A fourth survey is being undertaken.