Abstract
Rationale and Aim: The term ‘care home’ refers to residential facilities in the UK that offer permanent residential care for the elderly. Care homes were severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, as the elderly and the frail were at a greater risk than the general population of being unable to recover from infection in a care home setting. The social care crisis in the UK has been widely discussed in recent years. However, the pandemic uncovered both long-standing problems and some new ones associated with social care services. Hence, this study set out to undertake a qualitative investigation examining the lived experiences of care home managers during the COVID-19 pandemic in England and the implications for their development and approaches to future practice in social care. Methodology: This study used a qualitative phenomenological approach informed by an interpretivist research paradigm. Due to the large amount of responsibility and the need for care home managers to remain on site due to the pandemic, the methodology involved semi-structured interviews conducted online to promote participation and handle logistical preparations. The study included 12 care home managers from across England, working in both publicly financed and privately owned facilities of diverse sizes. Findings and Conclusion: The managerial and administrative tasks of care home managers were significantly altered by the pandemic. Uncertainty about how things should work, the inefficiency of current processes and the motivation to act out of concern for workers’ safety all indicate a lack of knowledge. Due to the lack of available care home staff (such as care staff, nurses and catering assistants), the managers had to take on additional responsibilities, such as filling in for other personnel and performing administrative tasks related to policy management. The managers disclosed their personal struggles in this area. The substantial knowledge asymmetry and ambiguity surrounding regulation and rapidly changing guidance was difficult to manage and share and enforce such guidance at care home level. Managers are considered knowledge brokers who spread information and ensure learning for both staff and residents’ families, and they are considered able to motivate employees by addressing their specific requirements. They are also increasingly required to use more digital resources to perform their duties, as digitalisation is a growing trend. This influx of new initiatives and new ways of working coincided with severely decreased financing, scarce resources and a severe staff shortage. The managers identified significant levels of stress, worry and exhaustion, as well as structural obstacles to education, future development and growth. Recommendations: Five recommendations were made in this study: an undertaking to improve human resources support to meet care home managers’ needs, the establishment of Communities of Practice (CoPs), a strengthening of the care home managers’ voice within the sector, enhancing of authentic multiorganisational partnerships and a true identification of healthcare system resilience (genuine preparedness).