Care staff exempt from quarantine rules. Is this right???

[heytheredelilah07]

Does anyone know if it is correct that health care staff are exempt from the quarantine rules? My manager said a few weeks ago that it doesnt apply to care home staff. Can anyone confirm if this is still correct?

www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-travellers-exempt-from-uk-border-rules/coronavirus-covid-19-travellers-exempt-from-uk-border-rules#registered-health-or-care-professionals

Registered health or care professionals
The exemption from the requirement to self-isolate for registered health or care professionals was removed on Friday 31 July 2020.
If you fall into this group and you arrived in England on or after 31 July you will need to self-isolatee if you visited or made a transit stop in a country or territory that is not on the travel corridors listt in the 14 days before your arrival.
If you fall into this group and you arrived in England before 31 July you will not need to self-isolate if you are required to work within 14 days of your arrival. Read the rules about when you need to self-isolate and for how longg_.

Thanks so much. We have a lot of foreign staff going back to their counties regularly and then coming back into the home and as far as I understand they just have test before they come back in and dont isolate. I guess we are at just as much risk travelling in this country but it didnt seem right considering how catastrophic the virus has been already in care homes.

Not exempt in Scotland either:
www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-public-health-checks-at-borders/pages/sectoral-exemptions/

I'm not sure about care homes but my NHS trust has now said that if you knowingly go to a country which is on 'the list' for quarantine then when you return you will have to take unpaid leave when you get back and that your manager can refuse you annual leave to go if it puts the ward or service at a detriment with staff numbers. We aren't allowed more than 2 weeks consecutive leave anyway unless there are exceptional circumstances.

as far as I understand they just have test before they come back in and dont isolate.

That’s concerning. A test on return before 14 days means absolutely nothing.

Not exempt. 4 of my immediate family work in 4 different nhs trusts. 2 are clinical. All have to isolate 2 weeks I paid if returning from one of the places on the list. Regardless if you can (and have been) working from home through the entire pandemic anyway which one of the 4 has been (which seems daft but has to be done for parity)