Covid-19 Policy Update
Home visiting: All Wag home visitors have already had 2 Covid vaccinations and so far only 2 of our over 400 volunteers have advised us that they cannot be vaccinated. Since we started visiting our 1:1 friends inside in June, our policy preference has always been that both the volunteer and the person being visited would have had 2 vaccinations.
Care & medical:
Care homes provide us with their requirements for visiting and they are slowly starting to open their doors to our volunteers now, but it is taking longer than expected. From October, their requirements will change in line with the new legislation, so that anyone working or volunteering in a CQC-registered care home in England for residents requiring nursing or personal care must have 2 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine unless they have a medical exemption.
Some medical establishments have already advised us that their policy will be for mask wearing/PPE rather than a blanket requirement for vaccinations. Others are introducing a vaccination requirement.
Following on from consultation with our Trustees and in line with both the NHS in Northumberland and the new legislation for people working in care homes we are now making 2 doses of the Covid-19 vaccination our requirement for all home visiting 1:1’s.
Discussions will take place individually with volunteers with medical exemptions to manage their specific placement needs effectively for all parties.
With all other visiting we will be driven by the requirement of the organisations we visit and so for those Wag volunteers who do not have a medical exemption and also do not have both doses of the vaccination, it may still be possible to visit some medical environments using PPE. Best discussed individually.
For your reference, our full Covid-19 policy is featured as always on our home page.
Any individual queries on this development, please have a chat with Diane directly. Diane@wagandcompany.co.uk.