Shell-shocked Aberdeenshire emergency carers were told they could lose their jobs only hours before a “brutal” savings plan was made public.
At an “urgent” meeting last Wednesday, health bosses told staff that 70% of the Aberdeenshire Responders for Care at Home (Arch) service will be axed.
The drastic savings spree will also affect publicly-funded home carers, who look after those most vulnerable during the day.
Aberdeenshire Health and Social Care Partnership (AHSCP) last week released proposals for the series of healthcare cuts, which could come into effect by October.
The shock “recovery plan” aims to save £20 million in the coming financial year.
Papers outline a number of cost-reducing measures – including a “review” of community hospitals and care homes – as bosses try to plug a £26.5m black hole.
However, an insider has now revealed staff were only made aware of the looming threat over their jobs the night before the documents were published online.
How will Arch carers be affected?
The whistleblower, who has been working as an Arch carer for years, told The Press and Journal they were left “in shock” to find out scores of them could soon face redundancy.
There are 135 “emergency carers” who react to alarm calls or incidents of “immediate and critical risk” 24 hours a day, along with 26 coordinators and three managers.
This is on top of 443 publicly-funded home carers, with another 53 coordinators and three managers – bringing the total number of staff under that umbrella to 663.
In the last year, the service has cost the joint board £17m, which is £1.2m more than what was allocated to Arch and home carers in the 2024/2025 budget.
Health chiefs now want to save £11.9 million by chopping their in-house service by 70%, and delegating some of this to private providers.
The Press and Journal understands this should not affect their capacity in terms of how many people are able to use it when needed.
However, the cuts will likely result in a number of jobs being made redundant.
‘Working for the council is like working for the Secret Service’
The Arch insider told us this was the only information they were given at last week’s meeting as well, with all of them still being “kept in the dark” about what happens next.
They said: “You don’t know anything until the last minute, which is quite frustrating.
“Turns out, working for the council is like working for the Secret Service…even our co-coordinators were not aware of this to prepare us, and their jobs are on the line too.
“I think everybody is just in shock and completely unsure as to what will happen – both to us and to the clients we care for.”
Why are Arch carers important?
The emotional whistleblower told us of the vital work emergency carers do – with dozens of elderly people across Aberdeenshire relying on their rapid response.
This ranges from helping people get home from hospital quicker by offering in-house assistance to rushing to the aid of residents who have fallen down and can’t get back up.
Their purpose is to prevent a hospital admission and help with early discharge.
“Everything that we do takes off the pressure from ambulances and hospitals,” the insider adds.
“A big part of what we do is help end-of-life clients get care at home. We assist people to try and do things for themselves, but with supervision for a start, until they get better.
“This frees up hospital beds.
“And then, we also help people who have fallen and can’t get up.
“They are uninjured, so they don’t need an ambulance, but they just need assistance to get up because there’s nobody there and we’ve got equipment to help them with that.”
‘Elderly people could be lying on the floor for hours after a fall without us’
The years-long emergency worker adds that reducing the Arch service will have significant impact on other health areas, which are already strained.
Their main concerns is that many of their clients will not get the help they need as ambulances and hospitals are already at full capacity.
Two months ago, NHS Grampian bosses declared a “critical incident” at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, with those who don’t need “immediate life-saving care” being steered away.
And the whistleblower thinks making up for a reduced Arch and home care service would be even more challenging as they cover a very large area.
They said: “You never know how your shift will go – at one point you might be needed in Braemar and then suddenly get called in Newtonhill.
“The big worry is for people who have fallen.
“If an elderly person is on the floor for any length of time, they might not have injured themselves when they fell, but the longer they’re there, the more it’s going to impact on their health and their recovery.
“So if we are not there, they could be possibly lying on a the cold floor for hours on end while they wait for an ambulance.
“And this is not the ambulances’ fault, they are pushed to the limit as it is and I can’t see how they will manage to do uninjured falls as well.
“We were supposed to be there to to relieve the pressure of of them, you know…”
Do you have concerns about the knock-on impact of the cuts? Let us know in our comments section below
What happens next?
The proposed healthcare cuts will be discussed at crunch talks on Wednesday.
Community hospitals across the region, the number of council-run care homes and paid working hours will also be reviewed as part of the recovery plan.
Health bosses reassured that they will follow the necessary processes if the cuts result in any redundancies.
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