WORKERS in the independent care sector have reacted angrily to the announcement that they are not included in the Covid-19 vaccination extension given to NHS staff.

This week the government announced that it has delayed compulsory Covid-19 jabs for NHS staff until April after listening to concerns about the impact it might have on staffing levels during the busy, winter period.

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However, no extension has been granted to those in the independent care sector for whom mandatory vaccination is expected to come into force on November 11.

This has angered some in the sector who argue that care workers directly support the NHS's work and so should be granted a similar extension.

Care workers who don't get vaccinated face losing their jobs and some reports suggest this could cause the sector to lose between 40,000 to 60,000 staff.

The Department for Health and Social Care emphasised that no final decisions had been made on the issue.

But the Independent Care Group (ICG), a North Yorkshire-based representative body for independent care providers, is calling on the government to rethink its policy for care workers in the light of its decision on NHS workers.

ICG Chair Mike Padgham said: “We need help, not hindrances.

“What is the point in keeping hospitals working if there is nowhere to discharge patients to if homecare providers don’t have the staff to care for people at home and there are no staff for care and nursing homes?

“The government has listened to the NHS’s concerns about the winter but ignored social care saying the same thing, time and time again.

“The government has no understanding of how social care and NHS care need to work together.

“To delay this deadline for NHS workers but maintain the deadline for care workers makes no sense.

"Vaccination for care workers should be a personal choice, but if it is to be made mandatory it should at the very least be pushed back until April, like the NHS.

“Time and time again, the government demonstrates that it doesn’t understand the relationship between NHS and social care.

"To spare the NHS this draconian measure but still impose it on social care staff is plain wrong.

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“Don’t they understand that helping the NHS is pointless unless you support social care too?"

"The two do not and cannot work independently of each other and yet here is another example of the government believing they can."

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “We have taken action to introduce vaccination requirements in care homes and we recently consulted on extending this further across health and other social care services.

"No final decisions have been made and we will set out our response in due course."

He added that vaccines are 'safe and effective' and almost four in five people in the UK have already had both jabs.

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