Compulsory Vaccinations in the Care Sector Webinar
Video Transcript
Good morning Everybody
I’m Elissa Thursfield, managing director of HR Anchor and today we’re going to be talking to you about compulsory vaccinations in the care sector. So it’s a real hot topic at the moment, it’s all everyone’s talking about really in the care sector at the moment and the challenges that are being faced with that as well.
So, today what we’re going to talk about is the regulations. So, the English position, a timeline for those regulations, medical exemptions, dismissals if you know that’s something that lots of people are talking about as well and also what the position is in Wales. Now the Welsh position and the regulations don’t actually apply there, so it’s only going to be a light touch on that subject so don’t you know I don’t want to drop off at the end and think this isn’t relevant. There are some points in that are relevant to England and Wales. Also for those of you who may have homes in Wales as well.
The Regulations
What are we actually talking about?
These are the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) (Amendment) (Coronavirus) Regulations 2021 which we’re just going to refer to as “the regulations” because that’s a bit of a mouthful even for us lawyers. As I’ve already said they apply only to England and they apply to CQC regulated providers now the grace period which commenced on the 22nd of July 2021 was intended to allow providers time to prepare for the regulations coming into effect on the 11th of November. The registered persons, their registered managers and providers need to ensure essentially that they don’t allow anyone entry into a care home unless they’ve had a full course of their vaccine. Now there are some exemptions to that and there are some exceptions as well that are very limited. What we’re going to focus on today because, it’s only one session and we’ve only got an hour, is this whole not denying entry and what to do with people who decide they’re not going to take the vaccine and we’re going to look at the medical exemption position as well. Now, the CQC will not be monitoring until it becomes a duty in November and they’re going to continue to use their existing assessment and enforcement policy so, they’re not coming up with any sort of new regime to police this they’re going to use the way that they at the moment assess and enforce and to make sure that providers are doing what they should be doing under the regulations.