A new recruitment drive to encourage more people in Oxfordshire to become care workers has been launched this week.

The campaign – ‘Make a difference every day’ – features a number of real life care workers, already supporting people across the county, talking about the rewards of the job and why they would recommend the job to others.

Oxfordshire currently has around 14,200 people working in adult social care. But the county’s ageing population is growing at twice the average, so there is an urgent need for more caring, friendly and reliable care workers to support older, frail people in their own homes, in nursing and residential homes or in community hospital settings.

According to a new workforce survey, by Oxfordshire County Council (OCC) and Oxford Health Foundation Trust (OHFT), nine out of ten care workers say they are proud of the work they do.
More than 95 per cent of care workers say the job they do makes a positive difference to other people, while more than 80 per cent of care workers surveyed would recommend their jobs to others.

Anita’s story

Care work can also lead to further career opportunities.

Anita Crook, 46 (pictured), works for OHFT at the NHS Fiennes Centre in Banbury. She works alongside her colleagues supporting patients in the community in Banbury and surrounding villages with the aim of preventing illnesses from becoming more serious, so keeping people out of hospital and in the comfort of their own homes.

Anita has been a care worker since she was 18. She moved into her current role more than two years ago and is also studying for a foundation degree learning new clinical skills to become an Assistant Practitioner.

She said: “My current job allows me to use my clinical skills and to communicate with patients – both these aspects of my job are very important and if they help make a patient more comfortable even for one day that is great.

“In this job you need to develop relationships with patients so you can sit down with them, listen to their needs and provide the support they want. I think the key qualities are understanding, patience and flexibility.

“I really would recommend this job to other people because I’m not stuck in an office and I have a great deal of autonomy to carry out my varied tasks as part of a hard working team. I definitely feel valued and appreciated by my colleagues who support me with my job and my studies – they have been brilliant.

“In this job you get back what you put in which for me is a great deal of satisfaction.”

Joint campaign

The campaign is being jointly run and funded by OCC, OHFT, Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group (OCCG) and Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (OUH) in partnership with the Oxfordshire Association of Care Providers (OACP).

It is expected to run throughout the coming four months and the county’s residents will see advertising on buses and billboards, on social media, via the radio and at face to face events such as careers fairs.

It is targeting specific groups of people including older women who are looking for a career change or are at retirement age but not yet ready to stop working, parents who may want to work flexibly around family commitments, and younger people who may want to work flexibly.

Anyone interested in applying for care work vacancies in Oxfordshire will be encouraged to visit the OACP website  which hosts a range of vacancies, both in the NHS and with private care companies.

Care jobs in Oxfordshire.