The National Care Forum have carried out a snapshot survey across 750 homes in England over the 25th and 26th January 2021. The survey asked about the availability and take up of COVID-19 vaccination by residents and staff in care homes for older people, the JCVI priority 1 group.
The survey revealed the very positive news around resident vaccination that approximately 95% of care homes had whole home vaccination within their settings. However, the story for staff showed there is still some way to go before the full cohort of staff in these homes have received their vaccination.
Vic Rayner, Executive Director at the NCF says:
“The incredible drive by community health colleagues and care homes working together in partnership has resulted in nearly 100% of all homes within this survey being visited by a roving vaccination team. This is a brilliant achievement.
“However, the prioritisation of staff vaccination does not appear to have been followed through with the same level of effectiveness. Whilst it is encouraging that the vast majority of organisations who responded noted that 50% or more of staff have been vaccinated, only 27% reported vaccination of over 70% of their staff.
“We need to learn quickly from the reasons why organisations are stating that staff have not been vaccinated and wherever possible remove the barriers at a local and national level. We need to eliminate the practices highlighted by members where staff have been unable to get vaccination appointments at local settings, or when vaccination teams come into a home and do not have sufficient vaccine to cover staff as well as residents. We must also make sure that any staff who express concerns about vaccination have the full opportunity to have all their questions answered, and then with their agreement be rapidly incorporated at the front of the queue in local vaccination centres. In many ways staff vaccination is proving to be the harder part of the equation, yet we know that it is critical for the safety of staff and to support the huge pressure on staffing caused by absence that care homes have been working with over recent months.
“The NHS England target to vaccinate all residents and staff by the 24th January has been missed. The clock is now ticking on the stated government objective of getting all those in groups 1 to 4 vaccinated by the 15th February. The experience of care home staff to date would suggest there is much work to be done to make this a reality, particularly when going forward, almost all vaccinations will take place in the community and care home staff who should be vaccinated first, run the very real risk of being lost in the rush.”
**UPDATE 28.1.21**
The NHS has now issued a letter to PCN-led vaccination teams stating that any second/follow-up visits needed to complete administration of the first dose need to be made by the end of 31 January 2021, or, at the very least, that a date is set and communicated to the care home.
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Note to Editors:
Survey key findings
- 48 care providers took part in the survey operating 749 care homes for older adults in England.
- Of the care homes operated 715 had received whole home vaccination by the end of 25th January 2021 representing 95% vaccine take up.
- Across all care homes responding to the survey 27% of care homes reported that 70% or more of staff had been vaccinated.
- For those staff who had not been vaccinated a number of legitimate reasons were provided including:
- unavailable when whole home vaccination was taking place due to shift patterns;
- unable to have the vaccine due to medical reasons;
- unable to get alternative local appointment for vaccination;
- lack of supply of vaccine for staff – vaccinating teams not having enough vaccine supply for staff in addition to residents.
- need to wait for 28 days if tested positive with COVID-19.
About the NCF
- The National Care Forum brings together over 130 of the UK’s leading social care organisations, representing large numbers of care providers, offering thousands of services across the country, which are not for profit and always at the heart of community provision. Collectively, these organisations deliver more than £2 billion of social care support to more than 167,000 people in 9,200 settings. The NCF membership body collectively employs more than 95,500 colleagues.
- More information is available on the National Care Forum at www.nationalcareforum.org.uk. @NCFCareForum @vicrayner @NCF_Liz
- For enquiries, please contact Edna Petzen (petzen@nationalcareforum.org.uk)
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