Coronavirus: Care homes rent minibuses to get staff safely to work

Minibuses are being hired to transport care home staff safely to and from work during the COVID-19 pandemic.

With the country emerging from COVID-19 restrictions, care home providers Sunrise Senior Living UK and Gracewell Healthcare have been leasing new vehicles to ensure staff can continue to avoid travelling on public transport.

Eighteen nine-seater minibuses as well as seven-seater vehicles have been leased from Enterprise Rent-A-Car for all of the care providers' care homes.

The MPVs (multi-purpose vehicles) were selected to enable social distancing for up to four people.

The new vehicles will also be used by Sunrise Senior Living UK and Gracewell Healthcare care homes for trips out with residents.

Sunrise Senior Living UK and Gracewell Healthcare hope the move to renting vehicles “will provide team members and residents with an added layer of safety against coronavirus”.

Chris Dean, director of procurement at Sunrise Senior Living UK said: “We place the safety of all residents and team members at our 46 homes at the heart of everything we do.

“I’m especially pleased with how these vehicles have given us the opportunity to protect our team members on their commutes while also offering a safe mode of transport for leisure trips and other essential travel with our residents.

“Building on the success of our original fleet, we have now leased 18 nine-seater accessible minibuses with wheelchair access to further improve the flexibility and accessibility of these vehicles.

"The need for safe and flexible travel is paramount to the health and wellbeing of our care homes.”