Mandatory vaccine law is ‘crippling social care sector’

Charity is on verge of losing significant proportion of staff and faces closing one of their centres due to ‘no jab, no job’ compulsory vaccination law.

Specialist respite breaks providers Revitalise are pleading for Government to rethink a law making it compulsory for all care home staff to get the COVID-19 vaccination, which they say is deepening the staffing crisis in social care.

The charity, whose services are a lifeline to its guests, is set to lose 29% of its overall staffing complement in one centre alone should it adhere to the new mandatory vaccination policy, which will come into law on 11^th November 2021.

Revitalise CEO Jan Tregelles said: “For Revitalise and for the care sector, the mandatory vaccination policy will, if implemented, have devastating consequences.

Throughout the first, second and third waves of the pandemic, my brilliant and dedicated colleagues have successfully cared for some of society’s most vulnerable through rigorous infection control measures and the use of PPE, often sacrificing time with loves ones to do so. Now, we are having to tell them ‘no jab, no job’.

At a time when Revitalise is already dealing with staffing shortages, five longstanding colleagues are subject to consultation because they do not wish to be vaccinated and another 7, who have had the jab, are so outraged that they are threatening to resign in protest.

To be clear, this is not because my colleagues wish to put our guests at risk, it is because they believe in their human right to bodily integrity and because they know that the measures that we already deploy keep our guests safe. They also cannot understand the logic of the regulations, which will not apply to residents or their visitors, nor to NHS workers. The Government have stated that it is in consultation with the NHS, but such proposals are unlikely to come into force until spring 2022, after the winter period. It simply does not make sense.

Without these colleagues, we may have to close our centre – putting the rest of the charity under threat. We are not alone; care home providers up and down the country are facing the same, impossible position.

I therefore urge the Government to think again about the mandatory vaccination law and work with care providers to ease, not exacerbate, the staffing crisis, to seek more balanced ways to encourage vaccination take up and to consider a range of different measures to ensure that care workers and the cared for, are looked after safely. Otherwise, they will be crippling a social care sector facing the worst staffing shortages in history.”

For 57 years, Revitalise has provided respite care breaks to a huge range of people. These are a vital lifeline to so many unpaid home carers and their disabled family members.