Care homes could be forced to call on the families of their residents to help out voluntarily on reception and serving meals due to staff shortages caused by the Covid vaccine mandate for staff.
Some care home officials are in despair at the fact that unvaccinated carers must be booted out of their jobs later this year. "How can I in all conscience sack someone who has done nothing wrong," asks one.
60% of care homes could be forced to sack some of their staff because of the Covid vaccine mandate, according to new estimates, with almost 4% of managers fearing they could lose up to a fifth of their workforce.
Booster vaccines will be compulsory for care home staff, according to a senior Government source, and they could also play a part in vaccine passport checks at nightclubs and other 'large venues'.
Covid vaccination will not be made compulsory for care home staff in Wales. First Minister Mark Drakeford says that care staff should take the vaccine, but "there is a very big step taken when you move into compulsion".
The mandatory vaccination of care home staff extends to people who visit homes for occasional work, including hairdressers, plumbers and inspectors, ministers have announced.
The GMB Union has hit back against the prospect of care home workers being forced to take Covid vaccines, warning that more than a third of its members in social care would consider quitting if vaccination is mandated.
Evidence suggests that care homes achieved a degree of focussed protection in the second wave. Perhaps if more attention had been paid to shielding in the first wave, Britain's overall death toll would be lower.
The U.K.'s human rights watchdog admits that forcing care home staff to get vaccinated against Covid would be a "significant departure from current public health policy", but has endorsed the move anyway.
We're republishing a letter in the Telegraph pointing out SAGE modellers need to accept some blame for the care home fiasco since they predicted hospitals would be overwhelmed if elderly patients weren't discharged.
