Coronavirus: Social care workers at risk ‘due to failure to give them basic protective gear’

A lack of protective gear is putting social care workers at risk of infection and possible death during the coronavirus crisis, frontline service providers have warned.

Social care staff, who care for some of the most vulnerable and frail people in the country, have raised concerns they are not being given basic protective equipment which allows them to safely interact with others.

The failure is disproportionately putting women at risk, according to charities. Recent NHS figures showed more than 80 per cent of adult social services jobs in 2019 were carried out by female workers. Government figures show women also make up the majority of informal carers in the UK.

Unite, a trade union which represents thousands of members in social care, warned the social care sector is at “breaking point” and workers were being denied basic personal protective equipment.

Carers, many of whom are paid low wages by private sector firms, have complained they have not been provided with essential items such as hand sanitiser, gloves, aprons, and face masks

Vivienne Hayes, chief executive of the Women’s Resource Centre charity, the leading national umbrella organisation for the women’s sector in the UK, said: “It’s appalling that already exploited workers, mostly women and many black women who are not only underpaid and on probably the worst employment contracts are now also being placed at unnecessary risk of infection, ill health and possible death.

“We repeat our call for the government to take immediate steps to apply a gender lens on all policy-making and pay attention to the needs of women workers and in particular care workers and others at risk of loss of earnings and or in high-risk situations.

“It feels like women and in particular, the poorest women are being left out of the governments emergency planning. This is not acceptable, all our citizens deserve protection in this emergency.”

The social care system, which is already starkly understaffed and underfunded, has around 120,000 vacancies and the sector could be left short of more than 200,000 staff if 20 per cent are made to self-isolate.

The hugely fragmented sector has 1,200 different organisations and firms which offer home care assistance in England alone.

The government pledged on Sunday that the social care sector would have adequate personal protective equipment in a week, but Unite deemed that “too little too late”.

Jim Kennedy, Unite’s national officer, said: “The social care sector is the fourth emergency service and it is crucial in helping the most vulnerable in society survive the coronavirus crisis.

“With workers reporting they are already at breaking point the government has to intervene to ensure that there is joined-up thinking and those who need care continue to receive it safely.

“Given the critical role, social care workers are playing it is absolutely essential that they are fully protected. Public Health England and the government need to intervene immediately to make sure, that essential PPE [personal protective equipment] is supplied to the workers who must have it to do their jobs safely and protect the vulnerable who rely on their services.”

Carers told Unite they were growing increasingly anxious that a lack of protective gear was putting themselves and service users at risk.

Sophie Walker, chief executive of Young Women’s Trust, a charity which helps young women on low or no pay, said: “The government has come a long way in recent weeks in understanding and re-evaluating the vital work of care provided by so many. It needs now to step up again and understand it has a responsibility to ensure that the staff providing this essential service are given the appropriate equipment in order to be as safe as possible.

“We are concerned to hear reports that a lot of the protective equipment available is not fitting women properly. It is imperative that this essential equipment is designed for those doing the work and delivered so they can continue to save lives without risking their own.”

Earlier in the month experts told The Independent women could be disproportionately exposed to coronavirus because they are substantially overrepresented in the care sector.

Frontline service providers said care and nursing homes could be a “mecca for the virus” due to many of its inhabitants being in poor health and already at greater risk of infection.