By Sheila Mckenzie-
The British government has proposed making Covid-19 vaccination mandatory for care home staff working with older people, following warnings of immunisation levels well below recommended levels in nearly half of such homes.
Ministers today launched a rapid five-week consultation on the proposal, expected to affect 10,000 homes in England, over half the total, two months after Community Care reported that the policy was under ‘serious consideration’.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) say the policy is designed to bring vaccination levels up to the thresholds recommended by the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) to control infection.
The proposals have already been objected to by care provider bodies and condemnation by UNISON, which warned it risked causing an exodus from the workforce.
The DHSC said SAGE’s social care working group had advised 80% of staff and 90% of resident to have had their first dose of the vaccine to provide a minimum level of protection against outbreaks of Covid-19..
The group said only 53% of homes with residents over 65 in England were currently meeting this threshold. As a result, homes caring for 150,000 people were not meeting the threshold.
Staff vaccination rates are below 80% in 89 local authority areas, and there are 27 local authority areas with a staff vaccination rate below 70%, the DHSC said.
Vaccination teams visit each home four times a week with the national booking service for vaccination opened up to care home staff for seven weeks, to facilitate self booking of jabs , but the system closed on 1 April, after vaccinated through their GPs were made possible.
This approach has been coupled by an advertising campaign targeted at care home staff.
The proposed policy would require homes with at least one older resident to only deploy staff who have been vaccinated, apart from those with a legitimate medical exemption.
It would also apply to care workers, as well as those in other roles, such as cleaning or kitchen staff.
Health and social care secretary Matt Hancock said: “Making vaccines a condition of deployment is something many care homes have called for, to help them provide greater protection for staff and residents in older people’s care homes and so save lives.”
In the DHSC press release announcing the consultation today, Barchester’s chief executive, Dr Pete Calveley, said: “We have not lightly introduced our vaccine policy, but we take the view that providing safe care for those we care for is our paramount obligation.
“As the Chief Medical Officer has said, it is a professional duty for care home staff to accept the vaccine unless there is a medical reason they should not.”
Scepticism
The National Care Forum chief executive Vic Rayner and Care England equivalent Martin Green have criticised the idea of mandating vaccination to one group of staff working with older people.
“Should the vaccine be mandatory for adult social care staff working in care homes for older people it begs the question whether it should not be mandatory for the NHS, those working in other care home settings, supported living, hospices, etc as well,” said Green.
Green also said that the division of the sector on the case for mandatory vaccination required a need for a longer consultation, “rather than a curtailed timescale”.
Heavy Handed
The proposals have also criticised by UNISON, whose general secretary, Christina McAnea,(pictured) said it was a “too heavy handed an approach could backfire badly”.
With 5.7% of roles estimated to be vacant in residential adult care settings in 2020, she added: “Some staff may simply up and go, leaving a poorly paid sector already struggling with thousands and thousands of vacancies in a terrible state, that could damage the quality of care for the elderly and vulnerable, and no-one wants that.”
Covid-19 was officially elected as the first woman to lead the UK’s largest trade union, representing health and social workers during the crisis, replacing Davis Prentis, who retired as Unison’s secretary general after 20 years in the post.
McAnea is advising the government to focus its efforts on persuading care staff to take the jab by targeting adverts at them, lining up already-jabbed colleagues to offer reassurance, tackling misinformation and giving staff time to make the right decision.
“It’s what’s worked in the NHS and in other countries,” she said.
McAnea added: “Resources should be ploughed into areas of the UK with low take-up rates to persuade rather than coerce nervous care workers, care employers should give staff time off work to make it as easy as possible for all concerned.”
Covid-19 was officially elected as the first woman to lead the UK’s largest trade union, representing health and social workers during the crisis.
The Association of Directors of Adult Social Services also raised concerns about the impact of the policy on the workforce.
President James Bullion said: “We welcome the announcement of the consultation on what is a difficult question for the government and all involved, but it is important that whatever is decided does not adversely impact the staffing numbers needed for safe and high-quality care.
“We should also think about this question alongside the urgent need to improve the employment deal for care workers.”