Care homes fear mandatory vaccination will lead to exodus of workers

The vaccination rate for care home staff remains below the target set by scientists in most of England’s local authorities and managers are concerned a government move towards mandatory vaccinations will lead to an exodus of care home workers.

Some 76 out of 149 local authorities in England had not reached the 80 per cent vaccination target recommended by government scientists, NHS England data as of 18 April has revealed.

The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) has advised that a vaccination uptake rate of 80 per cent in staff and 90 per cent in residents in each individual care home is needed to provide a minimum level of protection against Covid outbreaks.

In 17 local authority areas in England, less than 70 per cent of staff received a first jab.

The failure in some local areas to hit SAGE’s target comes as the government recently announced the launch of a five-week consultation on mandatory staff vaccination called ‘Making vaccination a condition of deployment in older adult care homes’.

Shouldn't be ‘based on a fear of becoming unemployed’

Care home managers voicing concerns about mandatory vaccination for staff include Dawn Bunter, who manages Iceni House in Norfolk.

Dawn Bunter expressed her views on the weekly YouTube chat show ‘The Caring View’, which she co-hosts. Dawn Bunter said: “The uptake at the care home that I manage is at 98 per cent. The staff have been amazing.

"I haven’t had anybody wanting to turn it down.

“I’m very pro vaccine but at the same time I do believe it has to be individual choice. I don’t think it should be forced. I think it should be genuine consent.

“I don’t think it should be based on a fear of becoming unemployed or unemployable”.

Care homes could only use vaccinated staff or those with legit exemption

The government’s consultation document reveals care homes for elderly care are the only care settings being considered for mandatory vaccination by the government.

This has prompted concern amongst care homes that staff who do not want to be vaccinated will move to caring roles outside of care homes for older people.

To increase vaccine take up, the government is looking to amend the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. This would mean older adult care home providers could only use those staff who have received the COVID-19 vaccination (or those with a legitimate medical exemption) in line with government guidance.

Referring to its consultation, the government stated: ‘We never again want to return to a position of widespread outbreaks in care homes in which too many people living and working in care homes lost their lives. The Joint Committee on Vaccinations and Immunisation (JCVI) identified people living in older adult care homes and their staff, as the top priority group for vaccine rollout.’

Care home staff will ‘migrate’ elsewhere

Adam Purnell is care quality lead at Kepplegate House care home and a co-host on Caring View. He expressed concern about the impact mandatory decisions would have on staff recruitment in care homes.

Adam Purnell said: “Mandating anything shows that there’s a lack of faith in the system.

“If other areas of the social care sector or even health care aren’t mandated than all the workers in elder care who don’t want it are just going to migrate anywhere else where they’re not required to have it.

“The next course of action..it should be education, it should be guidance, it should be support”.

Donna Pierpont is a care home manager at Broomgrove Trust Nursing Home in Sheffield.

Donna Pierpont said: “I am very pro-vaccine. I, at my home, have got 89 per cent uptake – it’s a better percentage than I get with flu vaccines which are normally about the 76-78 per cent uptake.

“My biggest problem is, they are trying to make it mandatory for care homes because they are saying elderly people are the most vulnerable.

"Hang on a minute. What about all the elderly people who live in their own homes, which I would say there are as many people being cared for in domiciliary care as there are in care homes.

“It isn’t just the frail elderly that are at risk. The first people who had to shelter [shield] were not only the over 70s but also the people who were immune-compromised.

“Why just care homes? Why not across the whole of the NHS and the whole of health and social care?”

Poll reveals 51% say 'No' to compulsory vaccination

An online poll by The Caring View chat show asked ‘Should the vaccine be mandated for deployment in social care?’ The poll result on 20 April revealed 51 per cent of respondents said ‘No’ to mandatory vaccination.

Some 44 per cent said ‘Yes’ and five per cent were ‘Unsure’.

A number of care providers including Barchester, Care UK and Advinia Healthcare have already taken the decision to make it mandatory although there are exemptions, such as if the employee is pregnant.

Sonia Rai, director of Nector HR, has developed staff vaccination policies for care homes and highlighted the HR issues related to compulsory vaccination on The Caring View chat show.

Sonia Rai said: “You can’t force somebody to take the vaccine. If they’ve got a health condition, if they’ve got a disability, they may well use a religious belief, they may well have a protected characteristic under the Equality Act. That really means you can’t force them to take it. Yes, you should be openly encouraging them.”

The deadline for responding to the government’s consultation is Friday, 21 May 2021.

To participate in the consultation complete the public survey.