Vaccination to be mandatory for care home staff

[Horseyhorsey3]

www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jun/15/covid-jabs-to-become-mandatory-for-care-home-staff-in-england

It will be interesting to see how this affects retention and recruitment of staff... Or not...

Is the best solution for care homes to all be part of the NHS and therefore not run for profit?

The majority of private care homes are run on a not for profit basis, most are charities or trusts. Personally I would not want a relative of mine looked after in their old age by the NHS. Great for acute care, shit for caring.

@BigWoollyJumpers

Is the best solution for care homes to all be part of the NHS and therefore not run for profit?

The majority of private care homes are run on a not for profit basis, most are charities or trusts. Personally I would not want a relative of mine looked after in their old age by the NHS. Great for acute care, shit for caring.

All the scandals in carehomes, either with the elderly or MH have involved the private sector.

When it comes to prisons, its even worse.

Profit before care, is never a good look and that ultimately is why the private companies get involved.

Consider the fees @ anywhere between 2.8k and 3.5k per month and its easy to see why they get involved.

@Iquitit

Thanks for crediting me with other persons words -not.

I did not say it was my assumption that care home owners were raking in all the profit !

Some are - and I do know that from bitter personal experience. But in my next post I also said I know of some who are very good yet barely making a profit to pay themselves with and then there are some in the middle.

I think care staff are being targeted because they are largely not represented by a union and there isn’t a specific union dedicated to them. They are the least likely set of people who will defend themselves - for a whole host of reasons, lack of a union, being too tired, fear of unemployment, being too indoctrinated by society that they are the lowest of the low? And the genuine desire to care for their patients, and the fear of making things even worse if they do complain? Plus probably a whole host of other reasons I can’t immediately think of.
It’s clear from this forum - carers are expected to give top quality care with no public support, money or decent wages, when it inevitably goes wrong - they will be blamed because they are inadequate, uncaring and unfit for anything.

Maybe everyone needs to do community service in a care home - then would be able to see exactly what we experience and would be more willing to listen and get things changed.

I wasn’t around under council run care homes. But I suspect that bad things happened just the same. Whilst profit margins are likely to be a big contender in allowing safety etc to fall by the way side - surely sanctions which truly hit profits would be an incentive to get things done right and focus on continued improvements. ?

I really don’t know what the ‘perfect’
answer is, but I would have thought it will involve many, many different approaches and ideas being brought together. A pinch of everything, not just one thing.

[quote Bargebill19]@Iquitit

Thanks for crediting me with other persons words -not.

I did not say it was my assumption that care home owners were raking in all the profit !

Some are - and I do know that from bitter personal experience. But in my next post I also said I know of some who are very good yet barely making a profit to pay themselves with and then there are some in the middle.

I think care staff are being targeted because they are largely not represented by a union and there isn’t a specific union dedicated to them. They are the least likely set of people who will defend themselves - for a whole host of reasons, lack of a union, being too tired, fear of unemployment, being too indoctrinated by society that they are the lowest of the low? And the genuine desire to care for their patients, and the fear of making things even worse if they do complain? Plus probably a whole host of other reasons I can’t immediately think of.
It’s clear from this forum - carers are expected to give top quality care with no public support, money or decent wages, when it inevitably goes wrong - they will be blamed because they are inadequate, uncaring and unfit for anything.

Maybe everyone needs to do community service in a care home - then would be able to see exactly what we experience and would be more willing to listen and get things changed.[/quote]
My apologies for the copy and paste error, it wouldn't let me quote the whole post and I can't now go back and edit to correct.
I'm aware that you didn't say that and I'm sorry my post has made it appear that way.

As for the rest of your post, yes I strongly agree with your points.
I don't think I'd like to think I was being forced into working alongside, and trying to provide care to vulnerable people, with people who have been forced to do the job as community service or conscripts.
I think it would add to this apparent attitude that we're somehow conscripts of some description who should not be doing the job unless we're willing to do it for free and sacrifice anything and everything to do it, and be grateful for the opportunity, otherwise we're just in it for the money (fancy wanting to be paid enough to live on, and have better working conditions - how unreasonable!) And also willing to take the blame for anything that goes wrong.

While you've got a government that sanctions benefits if people don't apply for and accept jobs they can do, and an industry that's short staffed and has very low requirements for entry, you're going to get people pushed into the job that shouldn't be there, and are resentful of that.

I suppose the only way to tackle that is to raise the bar for training of care staff, for minimum entry requirements that are more than not having commited (or been caught) certain crimes and a covid vaccination - but then we may lose candidates that are amazing at the job because they cannot meet the entry requirements and don't have the opportunity to meet them alone.

Our industry has regulators that are supposed to sort the issues out and insist on better care, but they just...... Don't. Unless it's carer based they seem unwilling or unable to take providers who fail to task and make sure the fundamentals that are way above the scope of care workers to solve, are met.

I too don't know what the perfect answer is, I suspect for many, blaming care workers is it. But in terms of actual improvement of the care being delivered to the people who need it properly, money is going to be the biggest factor I suspect, money which people don't want to pay.

@Iquitit

Thank you. Much appreciated. I don’t know how to collate multiple quotes either - perhaps it’s not possible on MN. I assumed it was my lack of editing knowledge.

I’m glad I’m out of the care workforce. Maybe those coming into it will be able to affect positive change, who knows, successive governments might even listen and implement much needed changes.
I feel for those still working in the sector and wish those I know would get out, even though I know the loss to their residents would be immense. I admit to warning anyone who is thinking of a career in the sector to rethink their future plans.

Good luck to you all.

@Bargebill19

I’ve done 3 months which is nothing compared to some. I’ve seen enough. I didn’t go into the sector under any false illusions as my mother has managed many homes in her time (but doesn’t anymore). I have a health and social care degree and my plan was to do some ground work for a year or two and then progress into management. Well that plan’s out of the window.

Interview tomorrow for another job entirely. I have a feeling I’ll get it. Im going to breathe a massive sigh of relief and I’ll never ever work in a home setting again. It’s been an eye opener and not a good one.

I wouldnt blame anyone for leaving care work tbh. Sounds horrific.

@Chillychangchoo

It’s a shame - all that hard work you’ve done. But! I’m sure that you will get far better employment and work/life balance and respect elsewhere.
Best wishes and good luck for your interview.

@baldafrique

What you’ve read here, is just the tip of ice berg for what care workers see and experience.

Thank you 😊

Oh, just realised 4 months today. One bonus is I’ve lost a stone and a half and my resting heart rate has really decreased. Totally underestimated the physicality of the role.

Yes I’m excited to leave but I’ll cry too. I’ll miss the service users but I know in my heart i absolutely cannot stay.

Good luck to everyone else in the sector 👍

I work in a better home, but even the providers (though I've given them a bit of a hard time I can concede this) have their hands tied in a variety of ways that inhibits rather than enhances care. The more unscrupulous providers use that as a means to profit.

I know I work in a better home because I was damned lucky a position became available, people rarely leave and we're nearly all veterans of other, worse homes and therefore don't want to leave - we know what's out there.

As I've repeatedly said, I have been vaccinated, but my concerns lie around how and why this has been implemented, like this, and so early on in a vaccination program.
I don't trust a government that left us to cope with the most vulnerable to covid alone, without proper support, actively made things worse, failed in so many areas - and now address that with mandatory vaccination for care staff (but no one else connected) and nothing else, and society thinks that's acceptable.
18 months ago they were donating basic PPE that we should have already had in stock, but never did, so we could continue to care.
They were donating iPads and laptops so people could have some links with their family.
They were donating food, bottled water, toilet roll and deodorant because the hours we worked and the shortages and restrictions in shops meant we couldn't get hold of these things and no one official was bothered about helping with those things.

Now we're the villains of the piece.

we've gone from clap the carers to slap the carers

Noone gave a shit about carers when they clapped. They were just pleased they weren't the ones having to face any risk. Grim really.

Society can demand and demand and demand of care workers, but for many things, they're demanding things from the wrong people. It's not that we don't want to change things, it's that in many cases, we can't.
Continuing to demand, and then vilify when change doesn't happen, will not affect the change happening. It will, has and is making things worse because it's driving good people out of the industry, which in turn will see more leave as they can't cope with what they're left with.
Ultimately, it's the users that rely on the services that will suffer the most, and right now it feels like the only people who are aware of what's continuing to happen, and see the results every day are the last ones anyone wants to listen to.

It's frustrating, soul destroying and heartbreaking.

Let's be honest, nobody ever clapped for carers.
They were simply added on as an afterthought to the 'Thank you NHS' bollocks.

We clapped for NHS, customer facing essential workers while we gratefully and anxiously self imprisoned working at home living at work. We clapped especially for those involved in the medical front line putting their lives at risk in the initial confusion learning on the job via data. Thank you NHS doctors, medical specialists, nurses and all other essential auxiliary medical support services making it all possible to treat one disease.

We did not clap for the incompetent corrupt officials who many electorate subsequently repeatedly voted for because they apparently got Brexit done along with security of vaccination. Although to be fair Brexit is surprisingly better than expected in a vaccination race, many of us in the City corporate world - substantial UK GDP and taxation revenue with most strategic importance and global expertise - are very concerned about the lack of passporting rights equivalence for business continuation and development. There is potentially a forthcoming economic pandemic to follow. Having a fully vaccinated healthy population is necessary to fight both the medical and economic pandemic. Do not let hard of thinking be another a Covid symptom. Get yourself vaccinated to protect yourself your family and those in close contact. Treat others as you expect to be treated. Be a part of the solution and not forever the problem.

@ResIpsaLoquiturInterAlia

We clapped for NHS, customer facing essential workers while we gratefully and anxiously self imprisoned working at home living at work. We clapped especially for those involved in the medical front line putting their lives at risk in the initial confusion learning on the job via data. Thank you NHS doctors, medical specialists, nurses and all other essential auxiliary medical support services making it all possible to treat one disease.

We did not clap for the incompetent corrupt officials who many electorate subsequently repeatedly voted for because they apparently got Brexit done along with security of vaccination. Although to be fair Brexit is surprisingly better than expected in a vaccination race, many of us in the City corporate world - substantial UK GDP and taxation revenue with most strategic importance and global expertise - are very concerned about the lack of passporting rights equivalence for business continuation and development. There is potentially a forthcoming economic pandemic to follow. Having a fully vaccinated healthy population is necessary to fight both the medical and economic pandemic. Do not let hard of thinking be another a Covid symptom. Get yourself vaccinated to protect yourself your family and those in close contact. Treat others as you expect to be treated. Be a part of the solution and not forever the problem.

Do you know what the side affects for me will be?

Because my doctor doesn’t.

Therefore no drugs in my system.

10 people died of covid past few days.

@ResIpsaLoquiturInterAlia

We clapped for NHS, customer facing essential workers while we gratefully and anxiously self imprisoned working at home living at work. We clapped especially for those involved in the medical front line putting their lives at risk in the initial confusion learning on the job via data. Thank you NHS doctors, medical specialists, nurses and all other essential auxiliary medical support services making it all possible to treat one disease.

We did not clap for the incompetent corrupt officials who many electorate subsequently repeatedly voted for because they apparently got Brexit done along with security of vaccination. Although to be fair Brexit is surprisingly better than expected in a vaccination race, many of us in the City corporate world - substantial UK GDP and taxation revenue with most strategic importance and global expertise - are very concerned about the lack of passporting rights equivalence for business continuation and development. There is potentially a forthcoming economic pandemic to follow. Having a fully vaccinated healthy population is necessary to fight both the medical and economic pandemic. Do not let hard of thinking be another a Covid symptom. Get yourself vaccinated to protect yourself your family and those in close contact. Treat others as you expect to be treated. Be a part of the solution and not forever the problem.

Be part of the solution - get yourself vaccinated and apply for one of the many thousands of care home vacancies. Care staff have been the stop gap solution for too long.

@ BettyBurntBuns

Do you know the dangers of your freedom of “no drugs” may negatively impact not just yourself, your family and those near you? Do you know if a non vaccinated contagious stranger infect you “inadvertently” you may more likely die being unvaccinated?

• typo - intended @ Bargebill19

@Bargebill19

I am pre occupied in my current role for these worthy caring responsibilities but I am doing my bit by being double vaccinated and taking all other risk mitigation measures seriously to protect myself and others.

Other family members are medics on the frontline including treating the ill and coordinating administration of vaccination. We are all doing our bit thanks! Hope you are too?!

As I said in my first post - I am vaccinated.
And I’m not the poster going ‘no drugs’.
I know the risks both for and against vaccines.

You may wish to re read the relevant post to which you are attempting to refer.

Yep, if you read my posts I have done and do ‘my bit’.
I worked in care home management. I now work in covid management infection control cleaning. I get paid twice as much for the actual hours I work, I don’t have to provide my own equipment to do my job, I get proper breaks, I don’t work all my holiday leave, and zero stress.

Well said @Bargebill19

And @ResIpsaLoquiturInterAlia

I am vaccinated.
Apparently though having concerns and questions around the vaccine itself, mandating it and the effects that's already having on a disenfranchised workforce, and the knock on effect that that will have on the people who use the services, and what can be done about that makes me a bad carer.

More like people are uncomfortable with the questions I'm asking, have no idea how to bring about the things they demand, yet expect people like me to work miracles with no resources, and choose to shout the likes of me and the others who've shared their viewpoint and experiences as carers, down with witty little soundbites, or the less witty "Get another job then".