As a recruitment officer for a care company that covers eight different locations across the East Midlands, let me reiterate the crisis we have found ourselves in. Healthcare (domiciliary) is on its knees. Staff shortages have resulted in unimaginable pressure on care workers, the elderly and vulnerable not receiving the care they need, and the sector as a whole no longer being one that people wish to join. 

Firstly, this job is labelled as unskilled, with the phrase "just a carer" being thrown around without people truly understanding the work involved in this role. Our workers ensure that those who need assistance are able to stay clean and free from risk of infection, we ensure that their medication is administered, that their meals are made, that their homes remain fit to live in, that their washing is done, and the list goes on. We form relationships with many who have lost everyone else around them. Yet the government deems our jobs as worth less than those working directly for the NHS. The industry is underfunded, with long hours and low pay that leads to many people giving up, as they are without hope of any improvement.

I'm sat in this office, with few people applying to join, with those that do apply not showing for interviews or ignoring phone calls, and honestly I can't blame them. The job is tough, with little staff it can be exhausting for those that are trying their best to keep going, and they barely get any financial reward for it. Care work is vital in every single community in this country, and I fail to understand why it continues to be neglected in such a way. 

I'm calling for those in power, Boris Johnson, MPs, people within Parliament, to finally open their eyes and take action for the benefit of a crucial and yet struggling industry. Raise the funding for healthcare, and wage for care workers to correctly compensate the strain of this job, and to attract more people who may finally feel that the job is worth the stress and tiredness that it brings.

Thank you for reading this petition, and I hope I have won your signature to help bring change to those who need care, and the inspirational people who provide it.