A charity had to temporarily suspend some of its care services due to a "shortage of staff", it has confirmed. Portland Freedom, which runs short breaks and respite care service at a residential building at Portland College campus site in Mansfield, said it was no exception in relation to the "national shortage of staff for social and care roles" being experienced across the country.
Short breaks and placements are available at Portland for people with disabilities and learning difficulties aged 18 and over.
However, the service has been closed for three months as it did not have enough staff to operate safely, particularly as Covid levels rose in February and March. During that time, refurbishment work has been carried out at the site.
Portland Freedom CEO, Dr Mark Dale, explained “It has been very widely reported that there is a national shortage of staff for social care roles and Portland Freedom is no exception to that. Residential Care is highly regulated by the Care Quality Commission and we have to guarantee minimum staffing levels at all times to ensure the safety of our permanent residents.
“We took the hard decision to temporarily suspend our Short Breaks & Respite Care Service because we did not have enough staff to operate safely, especially when Covid levels were so high in February and March. Whilst the service has been closed for three months we have completed work on a special refurbished building, creating a lovely small unit for our Short Breaks clients which will be a very positive working environment for our hard-working staff.
“We have implemented a comprehensive package of measures, including pay, to make it easier to retain existing staff and to recruit new ones. The good news for Nottinghamshire families is we expect to re-open Short Breaks & Respite before the end of May.”
