Posted on: 17 February 2022
We are writing in response to the national government consultation concerning the proposed revocation of COVID-19 vaccine as a condition of deployment (VCOD) legislation.
Organisations across West Yorkshire have shared their views and concerns around the proposed revocation of the legislation alongside colleagues in our Race Equality Network. The approach outlined below was endorsed by the Partnership’s sector leadership group on Wednesday 16 February 2022.
We were keen to take part in the national consultation on this important topic. There are some important general points that we wish to get across.
General points
Firstly, it is important that we feedback our deep disappointment at the nature of the communication of this decision through the media. The time, effort and energy that has gone into persuading people who lack confidence in the vaccine to have a jab has been substantial. The potential moral injury to people who have only had the vaccine as they feared losing their job, and the consequences for local relationships and the undermining of team leaders in all our organisations should not be underestimated. There was a lost opportunity to pitch roll this decision with organisations to ensure that staff were prepared and briefed.
Secondly, this is material because it potentially undermines the confidence of staff in their team leaders and vaccination campaigns for flu and other viruses. Trust will need to be restored and the response to this consultation should recognise this. Understandably, staff trust will need to be rebuilt, especially when considering the number of colleagues who had their first vaccine as late as the end of January 2022.
We are also very mindful of the mandatory vaccination for care staff, including those working in residential care late last year, with many choosing to leave the sector when skill shortage is a challenge to all.
We also would like to stress the need for consistent messaging from Government, clinicians, and professional leads around this agenda so as not to undermine the work and energy that has been invested in supporting the vaccination of our workforce.
Our final general point is that we must maintain a continuous flow of quality vaccine uptake data. This has been essential in understanding coverage, population issues – age, gender, ethnicity particularly.
Our approach
Across our system all sectors will continue to encourage and support colleagues to take up the vaccine as the right thing for them, their colleagues and for citizens and patients. For this reason, all support offers will remain in place.
Vaccines remain our first line of defence against COVID-19 and colleagues across health and care services across West Yorkshire have joined volunteers and local communities. We are proud of the work of staff, volunteers, and unpaid carers’ organisations in gathering momentum and delivering the vaccine to 1.766m people aged 12 and over in West Yorkshire. Of these, 92.5% are double-jabbed and over 1.2m of those aged 18 and over have had their booster (accurate 10 February 2022).
To date, 96% of NHS staff working in acute, mental health and community NHS trusts across West Yorkshire have had their first vaccine dose (based on aggregated Trust figures as of Monday 14 February 2022). 93% have had their second dose and 85% have had their booster dose. This reflects the commitment of our colleagues to ensuring the safety of those we’re here to serve.
Additional actions
Maintaining good coverage requires national bodies to:
- consider the timing (including advance notification) and communication of national announcements to avoid the added pressure of short notice changes
- the commissioning of studies to understand the drivers for low confidence among different staff groups and communities; fertility etc
- focus group findings/insights around reasons for late conversions
- considering previous trauma and anxiety when addressing a lack of vaccine confidence - putting dedicated professional support/time in place
- more focus around culturally appropriate and diverse communications and events
- educational events to provide information on the basic scientific principles about vaccines to counter misinformation (e.g., benefits, possible side effects)
- clearer national messaging and promotion around vaccination and the other methods to limit the spread of the virus e.g., the use of face coverings
- consistent use of vaccination evidence outside our working lives e.g., the consistent use of the COVID-19 Pass
- consideration of providing time off on the day of vaccination on the basis that some colleagues have reported feeling unwell in the 24-48 hours after – could allay concerns around taking sick or annual leave
- letters similar to those sent by professional regulators to registered health professionals to be sent to the health and social care assistant workforce to reiterate the professional duty of care to be vaccinated
- dedicated support for third sector organisations to work with colleagues who are vaccine hesitant.
Our independent race review, published in October 2020, shows the huge impact of COVID-19 on people from minority ethnic communities and staff, who make up 20% of our 2.4million population of West Yorkshire. We have been producing our own data to look at the relationship between place, deprivation, and ethnicity for take up of the vaccine and the high levels of deprivation and extreme clinical vulnerability. This includes considering clinically extremely vulnerable people and the increased risk or anxiety around the safety of being treated by or working alongside unvaccinated colleagues.
The partnership’s work on supporting over 100,000 people who were shielding during the pandemic and who are most vulnerable also reflects our position.
The following actions identified by partners across West Yorkshire include having easy access to the vaccine at convenient locations close to work, regular support for individual staff members, including access to occupational health was highlighted alongside the needs for clear national guidance for colleagues working with clinically extremely vulnerable people to set out expectations and requirements to keep people safe.
Conclusion
We are committed to supporting our colleagues as individuals, to focusing on the health and wellbeing of our workforce and to putting the needs of local people at the heart of everything we do.
We will continue to work with colleagues across West Yorkshire to increase vaccination uptake in a supportive and compassionate way that respects each of our people as individuals.
We would encourage you to consider our response as only a summary of key themes on what is a complicated and multi-faceted issue, to complement and not to replace the responses from individuals, organisations, and sectors across West Yorkshire.
It’s helpful to note that organisations, committees, and individual colleagues have also put forward their local response. Our response should be considered alongside, and not in place of, individual responses from those living, working, or delivering services within West Yorkshire.
Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with sarah.
Yours sincerely,
Rob Webster, CEO-Designate, West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership
Brendan Brown, CEO for Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust; CEO Workforce Lead for West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership
Sararh Brewer, Programme Director for Workforce, West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership