Self–isolation for adult social care staff
COVID-19 remains a risk and it is still possible to catch and spread, even if you are fully vaccinated. COVID-19 will be a feature of our lives for the foreseeable future, so we need to learn to live with it and manage the risk to ourselves and others.
Find out what you need to do to stay safe and help prevent the spread.
The government has published its plan for living with COVID-19.
Government guidance on self-isolation
Following the government’s announcement that staff in adult social care may be exempted from self-isolation, if there is a significant risk to the organisation, providers are to review the below documents for exceptional circumstances only.
The aim of this past policy is to support the sector to manage staff shortages in exceptional circumstances. These guidelines mean employers may be able to allow staff to return to work, not to ‘compel’ staff to return to work, on the basis that in certain circumstances, those workers may have a reasonable excuse not to comply with a self-isolation duty. This approach should only be introduced if there is a likelihood that staff absence creates a significant risk to the health or safety of service users and their specific activities are critical to the ongoing provision of care.
Links to guidance:
- Information for healthcare staff
- Information on managing patients
- Information for staff and residents in adult social care
- Frequently asked questions
- Staff risk assessment form
- COVID-19 PPE guide for unpaid carers
- Health and wellbeing of the adult social care workforce
Providers must ensure to access the above links which provide additional advice on the management of staff and patients or residents in health and social care settings according to exposures, symptoms and test result.
If a member of staff is affected
If you have a member of staff that falls into these categories, we advise that the staff risk assessment form is completed first and ask that you provide a weekly update to the Adult and Social Care team at qualityassurance@wandsworth.gov.uk and the Public Health Infection Prevention and Control team at publichealthenquiries@wandsworth.gov.uk, with the following information:
- How many risk assessments have been completed
- How many staff have been exempted from self-isolation
- The number of staff that continued to self-isolate
- How many staff were able to return to work after the risk assessment was completed
It is important that any exemption of staff from self-isolation is incorporated into your Business Continuity Planning.