Social care staff who refuse vaccine should not work in care homes, says minister

Staff in the social care sector who refuse to get the Covid vaccine should not be able work in frontline roles in care homes, a government health minister has said.

Care minister Helen Whately suggested care home staff who would not get double jabbed could be moved to back-office roles.

She told Sky News: “The big question has to be well, if you don’t want to get vaccinated, how can you continue, how can it be right to continue, to look after people who are really vulnerable from Covid?”

The government is considering whether to make Covid jabs mandatory for frontline NHS and care workers – but some unions and care bodies have warned it could lead to staff shortages.

Asked on BBC Breakfast whether care staff who refuse the jab could be sacked, Ms Whately claimed they could be redeployed. “The care home will have to work with staff members to see if there are any alternative roles they can do that don’t involve actually working in the care home,” she said.

The minister later suggested that all staff working in health and social care – including NHS staff – who refuse to get double jabbed could be moved to back-office roles.

“You can look at whether there are alternative ways somebody could be deployed, for instance, in a role that doesn’t involve frontline work ... whether it’s, for instance, working on 111, something like that,” she told Times Radio.

The care minister added: “So we could look at alternative roles for individuals, these are exactly the sorts of things that we can investigate.”

Ms Whately’s comments comes as the government announced a consultation on plans to make Covid and flu vaccinations mandatory for all frontline health and care staff, including NHS workers.

The six-week consultation process will take views on whether vaccine requirements should apply for health and wider social care workers – those in contact with patients and people receiving care.

It would mean only those who are fully vaccinated, unless medically exempt, could be deployed to deliver health and care services.

The government previously said all staff in registered care homes in England must be vaccinated against Covid from 11 November, unless medically exempt.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said the consultation would look at the potential impact that making jabs compulsory could have on staffing and safety, such as reducing staff sickness absence.

NHS staff, healthcare providers, stakeholders, patients and their families are being urged to take part, with a final decision expected this winter.

According to the DHSC, around 92 per cent of NHS trust staff have received one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, with 88 per cent of staff having received both doses.

Health secretary Sajid Javid urged all health and social care staff to be vaccinated, regardless of the outcome of the consultation.

“We will consider the responses to the consultation carefully but, whatever happens, I urge the small minority of NHS staff who have not yet been jabbed to consider getting vaccinated – for their own health as well as those around them.”

The social care industry has previously expressed concern over the effect mandatory vaccination may have on the sector’s already-stretched staffing levels.

The Institute of Health and Social Care Management’s most recent survey found that nine out of 10 managers said their workplace was experiencing staff shortages or having difficulty recruiting.