How many people were sacked from care homes for refusing to take a Covid-19 vaccine when their continued employment was made contingent upon it? What effect did it have on nursing homes? What happened to the people who were sacked? Are there any plans, now that the compulsory vaccine requirement has been abandoned, to reinstate people who were sacked? The answers are, respectively: “nobody knows”; “nobody knows”; “nobody knows”; and “no”. All this is according to the House of Lords Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee in its 33rd report of Session 2021-22 where it considered the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) (Amendment) (Coronavirus) (No. 3) Regulations 2022. This is the one that, initially, made the vaccines compulsory and was then amened when the government finally accepted that the optics on nurses throwing away uniforms and the possibility of losing 7,000 staff overnight from the NHS may not—amongst the many ridiculous decisions made since March 2020—be the smartest move.
To the credit of the committee these questions were raised. Mainly complimenting the Department of Health and Social Care for the amount of ‘factual’ information provided, our Lordships and Ladyships did “expresses surprise and disappointment” that the report failed to address:
- the estimated number of care home staff who were dismissed when the first set of Regulations took effect in November 2021 or of staff in an NHS setting who were dismissed or left in anticipation of the second set, which were due to come into effect on 1 April 2022; and
- any mention of whether such staff should be reinstated. DHSC told the Committee that the matter of rehiring staff was an issue to be addressed by each individual employer.
“Disappointment”! They ought to be bloody furious. Moreover, it appears that we may not be out of the compulsory vaccination woods yet. Specifically, summing up, Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville said:
- “… there are issues that still give cause for concern. The hints in the Explanatory Memorandum that certain vaccinations may become a requirement for the recruitment of NHS staff in the future needs proper evaluation in light of the pandemic experience.”
With reference to the effect on care homes and the staff who were sacked, she said:
- “It is disappointing to note that despite considerable staffing difficulties caused to care homes and distress to dedicated care home staff who were dismissed as a result of the compulsory vaccination requirements, the Department is silent on whether they can or should be reinstated. This change still leaves a lot of loose ends that must be addressed.”
It is genuinely heartening that someone or some people are raising questions and, of course, these proceedings are conducted with decorum. But there are also comments contained within the report on responses from ‘Health’ Secretary Sajiv ‘Slippery’ Javid (paragraph 5) to the effect that, in his view, what they did in the first instance was ‘compatible’ with the European Convention on Human Rights. This may suggest that there is either something wrong with Mr Javid or with the European Convention on Human Rights. Probably both. There is also an astonishing claim (paragraph 12.2) that as a result of what was done: ‘There is either none or no significant impact on the public sector’. It is hard to know how they can arrive at that conclusion without making an assessment. One thing is certain, it had a devastating impact on all the people who were sacked.
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