Priority COVID-19 Booster Information for Care Staff: Adult Social Care Update

As a carer, you are given priority to get your Covid-19 vaccine and can request a copy of the priority letter to gain faster access to get your vaccination. A message from Sir David Pearson from the Department of Health & Social Care:

“On 14 December, NHS England issued operational guidance to all vaccination centres on the delivery of boosters. This included a request to all sites that they consider how best to support clinically vulnerable, and frontline health and social care workers, to access queue management and priority lines when presenting a valid ID. Sites are also to make reasonable adjustments for pregnant women, the clinically vulnerable, including LD/autism and SMI, as well as for their carers.

It’s so important that social care workers, and anyone receiving or giving care, whether paid or unpaid, gets their booster this winter, and I am grateful for the priority that has been given to allow this priority access. In order to get priority access at a vaccination centre, sites will likely ask to see a workplace photo ID, or a recent letter or payslip from their employer as proof of their employment, so do encourage this where possible.

Being vaccinated and boosted against COVID-19 is the best way we can mitigate against the Omicron variant this winter. I’m very grateful to all the social care workers and carers that have done such a fantastic job throughout the course of this pandemic, and we are committed to ensuring everyone in the sector is as protected as possible and has access to vaccines.

Of course, social care workers and carers, indeed everyone over the age of 18, can also continue to book a vaccination slot via the National Booking Service1 and should do so now if it has been two months since their second dose so that they can receive their booster vaccination once three months has passed. They can also use any walk-in vaccination centre2 to get protected and use this letter to request priority access on site.”

“Winter can be a challenging time. Many of us will be coming down from our festive highs, counting the cost of our dietary excesses, and impatiently waiting for the days to get longer and warmer!

As frontline care colleagues, you aren’t just contending with cold days and dark nights of course. There are others factors in play which can affect your mental wellbeing at any time of the year.

During the course of the pandemic, you have lost colleagues, residents, family and friends to the virus and no doubt many of you have been taken ill yourselves. You wouldn’t be human if you hadn’t felt an emotional as well as physical burden in the midst of all this. In such circumstances, your resilience and dedication have been truly amazing.

Our Frontline continues to be a valuable source of wellbeing support for care staff, seven days a week. There is always someone to talk to if you’re feeling the strain, including the highly trained, compassionate and confidential volunteers staffing the Samaritans’ dedicated line for health and care workers.

Meanwhile, we have released additional funding to support the workforce through these tough times. We recently announced £5.4 billion to reform social care over the next three years, including at least £500 million to support training and career development for the workforce. This is on top of £462.5 million to support recruitment and retention of staff.

On that point, easing pressure on the workforce remains a top priority. This week, we’ve teamed up with some famous faces, as part of the ‘Made with Care’ campaign to shine a light on the extraordinary parts of working in care not often spoken about. Find out more in this newsletter and on our Facebook page.

With more than 105,000 vacancies, and almost half-a-million extra job opportunities in adult social care expected by 2035, the campaign aims to help fill vacancies across the adult social care sector, encouraging people to apply for exciting and rewarding roles across the country.

If you know someone with huge reserves of empathy, compassion and patience, why not ask them to consider a career in care? With the benefit of excellent on-the-job training, they don’t need qualifications. There are flexible roles available and many opportunities to progress.

Reforming the care sector isn’t just about process and protocols, it’s about people too. We will support new and existing colleagues to build careers as transformative and inspiring as the care they give to others.”