Harrogate care director claims government priorities NHS over care sector
The Government is considering scrapping plans for NHS staff to be double jabbed by the start of April - despite opposition from care workers who had to be fully vaccinated in November
The Government is considering whether to scrap mandatory coronavirus vaccines for frontline health and social care workers in the light of the less severe Omicron variant.
Ministers have been facing pressure to put back the requirement for staff in England to be double jabbed by April amid fears it will lead to a major staffing crisis.
The requirement for care home staff to have two doses came into force last November, with one charity accusing the Government of using the sector as "the trial run for the NHS".
Frontline NHS and wider social care staff would need their first dose by Thursday in order to be double jabbed by April 1, and there have been protests and calls for the policy to be delayed.
James Rycroft is the managing director at Vida Healthcare who have care homes in Harrogate, Starbeck and Pannal.
He said:
"It's incredibly frustrating because yet again the government seems to prioritise the NHS and social care in this instance seems to have been the guinea pig or tester for this mandating of the vaccine.
"They're saying it's due to a staffing crisis in the NHS but this staffing crisis isn't anything new. When it was mandated for care staff back in November there was a staffing crisis then so that argument just doesn't stack up.
"We've had 2.5% of our staff forced to leave, we've had very disgruntled members of staff cost us a lot of time in HR talking over the legal implications which is very frustrating and not fair considering we're just the messenger of this government mandate.
"It seems to be different rules and it changes all the time. Why on earth when they mandated social care did they not mandate NHS alongside that? What was the purpose of the delay?"
Patricia Marquis, Royal College of Nursing director for England, acknowledged that scrapping the mandate would be "a change of heart too late for the social care sector" but said it would hopefully enable valuable staff to be brought back.
Mike Padgham, chairman of the Independent Care Group in North Yorkshire, said care homes need to know whether staff who lost their jobs because they were not vaccinated can have them back.
He said: "I think this illustrates the huge gap between NHS care and social care and the way they are treated.
"We were robbed of thousands of staff back in November when the policy came in for care and nursing home workers and nobody lifted a finger.
"But when a similar threat is levelled toward NHS staff, the policy is reversed."
On Monday (31 January), Boris Johnson said he believes it is "absolutely clear" that NHS and social care workers should get vaccinated.
The World Health Organisation has said billions of people worldwide have been safely vaccinated against Covid-19.
The vaccine process includes "rigorous, multi-stage testing process, including large clinical trials that involve tens of thousands of people" and continues to be monitored and tested following approval.