Concern over covid-positive care staff in somerset attending work | nursing times

Some care home staff in Somerset are being required to attend work while positive for Covid-19 to avoid residents going without care, amid high infection rates across the county. The move is

putting care home residents “at risk in the most reckless of ways”, according to the union Unison, which has called on the local council to reverse the situation. > “The lives of their 

loved ones are being put at risk in the most > reckless of ways” >  > Gavin Edwards In a statement, Somerset County Council explained the area was experiencing some of the highest

Covid-19 rates across the country and that in “exceptional circumstances”, care staff who were asymptomatic and wearing full personal protective equipment (PPE) had gone into work. Latest UK

Government data shows that, in the seven days to 12 March 2022, there were 5,298 cases across the county, an increase of 70% on the week before. Across Somerset, this equates to a case rate

of 939.6 per 100,000 people – significantly higher than the national case rate of 684.6 per 100,000 people. Somerset County Council said its policy was that people should self-isolate

following a positive Covid-19 test, or if they are showing symptoms. It added that “we do not encourage care staff to work while Covid positive”. “However, with Covid rates in Somerset

currently among the highest in country, we're aware of some exceptional instances where asymptomatic staff wearing full PPE have worked where the risk of a patient not receiving care is

greater than the risk of them becoming ill from Covid,” explained the statement. “We are working with these settings to provide support.” Although there is currently no legal requirement to

isolate following a positive Covid-19 test, it was confirmed by the UK Health Security Agency last month that nurses across health and social care should not attend work if they have

Covid-19. RELATED ARTICLES Concerned about the situation, Unison’s head of social care, Gavin Edwards, said: “No one with Covid should be going in to work, and certainly not into workplaces

with vulnerable people.” He highlighted the “obvious dangers” and warned that families of residents would be “horrified”. “The lives of their loved ones are being put at risk in the most

reckless of ways,” added Mr Edwards. “Covid tore through care homes in the early days of the pandemic and many lives were lost. This must never happen again.” Somerset council must address

the situation and reverse the move “before it’s too late”, he warned. More widely, Mr Edwards said it was down to the “staffing crisis” in the care sector that was “putting councils in an

impossible situation as Covid rates rise”. Professor Martin Green, chief executive of Care England, added: “People with Covid do pose a risk to those in care services, and anybody who is

testing Covid positive would ordinarily be off work. “However, there may be exceptional circumstances where people have to go into care homes, and they should be very conscious of the need

to ensure that they are fully protected by PPE so that the people they work with are not put at risk.” The news comes as latest NHS England data revealed a sharp increase in the number of

staff off work because of Covid-19 related absences. Meanwhile, UK Government data also shows the number of people hospitalised with Covid-19 has increased by 22% in a week period, with more

than 14,000 patients currently in hospital with the virus. Not far from Somerset, NHS organisations in Devon have also this week highlighted that the number of people in hospital with

Covid-19 are double the figure from a fortnight ago and “higher than at any other point in the pandemic”. Within the county, there is also understood to be almost 1,200 NHS staff off work

due to Covid-19. Ian Currie, medical director of Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust, highlighted that “the majority” of Covid-19 patients were in hospital for other conditions and

are asymptomatic or experiencing mild symptoms. However, he warned “the impact that the presence of Covid-19 has in our hospitals is really significant”.