Social care aka NHS' 'poor relative' demands Covid jab U-turn

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is rethinking plans to introduce mandatory Covid vaccination for NHS staff to prevent more staff shortages – prompting care leaders to demand the jab mandate for care staff be scrapped too.

PM: 'We will reflect on the way ahead'

England’s frontline NHS staff must be double-jabbed by 1 April and Mr Johnson said in the Commons that it is “the responsibility of all healthcare professionals to be vaccinated” but he also told MPs: “We will reflect on the way ahead. We don't want to drive people out of the service.”

His comments come after Conservative MPs raised concerns about NHS staff shortages and an impact assessment, published by the government last November, estimated 73,000 NHS staff could be lost in England due to the vaccine mandate.

Tens of thousands of care home staff left the care sector last November after a Covid vaccine mandate was introduced, which required care home workers to be double-jabbed or lose their jobs.

Care leaders now demanding a similar rethink of the care worker jab mandate, now argue there cannot be one rule set for care workers and another for NHS staff.

Jan Tregelles, the chief executive of Revitalise, a charity that offers respite holidays to disabled people and their carers, said: “If the Government is questioning the worthiness of the mandate for the NHS, it is essential that they immediately instigate a major rethink for the social care mandate.

“And, if the Government decides to scrap the mandate for the NHS and not for social care, this will be yet another way in which social care is seen as the poor relative of the NHS.

'Cannot be one rule for the NHS and another for social care'

“There cannot be one rule for the NHS and another for social care. Without the support of social care, the NHS can't function.”

Care leaders have taken to Twitter to express their anger at the government’s move to consider scrapping a vaccine mandate for the NHS but not for social care.

Former care home manager Mark Topps (@_mark_topps), who is regional business manager at Essex Cares Ltd tweeted: ‘It is being actively considered to pause mandating the vaccine in the NHS but not for social care staff.

'I’d love to know who leads these decisions in government and why no one ever seems to prioritise social care first or even on a equal footing.’

Further jobs losses are expected in the home care sector from 1 April, when the government’s Covid vaccine mandate for all social care workers comes into effect.

News that the government is considering ditching a jab mandate for NHS staff has led Dr Jane Townson, the chief executive of the Homecare Association to demand rules requiring vaccination as a condition of deployment in care settings be ‘withdrawn without delay’.

Care leader: 'We were ignored'

Meanwhile, NHS staff protesting outside Downing Street against the vaccine mandate, were seen throwing their NHS uniforms on the floor.

Conservative MPs have urged the Prime Minister to reconsider plans for the vaccine to be made compulsory for NHS staff.

Speaking in the Commons, Mr Harper, MP for Forest of Dean, said: “We know now that the Secretary of State is being advised by his own officials – due to the lack of protection against transmission – that this needs to be rethought.

“Can I urge the Prime Minister to rethink this policy? We shouldn’t reward our NHS staff for all their dedication with the sack.”

Many care leaders have long argued that dedicated care staff working through the pandemic should never have been rewarded with the sack either.

The National Care Association (@NationalCareAsc) tweeted: ‘So the voice of the NHS workforce is making an impact on the country but when we pleaded for a pause for our social care workforce we were ignored!

'We employ more staff and have larger vacancies but we lost another 40,000 to this mandate. Does anyone see the inequalities?’