Lancashire County Council’s vaccination work highlighted nationally as good practice
Written by John Williamson on 18/02/2022
Lancashire County Council has been commended by the government as an area of good practice for its work on vaccinating some of its most vulnerable residents.The county council has featured in a case study in a new paper published by the Department of Health and Social Care’s Adult Social Care Booster Taskforce. The paper was written for adult social care and vaccine leads from local authorities, integrated care systems, and providers, so they can harness this learning and maintain protection from Covid-19, especially in the wake of Omicron.Not only does the case study outline the positive steps taken by Lancashire County Council to protect people in adult social care, but it also highlights the good practice to support the wider vaccination programme.While the vaccination effort is led by the NHS, local authorities have an important role in supporting this vital work. To supplement the wider NHS programme, Lancashire County Council undertook some targeted vaccination work.The county council commissioned two vaccine coaches/buses, which have been purposed and kitted out to meet the requirement for delivering vaccinations. These coaches have been deployed to various sites across the county and are supported by district councils and Lancashire Temporary Staffing Agency (LTSA) staff, an internal staffing agency that was set up by the county council at the onset of the pandemic in 2020 to meet demand for residential care roles.Vaccinators at these pop-up sites have delivered hundreds of jabs in recent weeks, including a significant number of first doses. This service has been particularly helpful for the homeless population as it allowed them to walk into any site and get their jab without additional barriers.The county council has also been commended in the paper for some of the positive actions it has taken to support the adult social care sector with its Vaccination as a condition of deployment (VCOD) work.The local authority has supported care home managers by providing a Covid vaccination checklist to help them understand those staff who were hesitant, but likely to get the vaccine and those staff who ultimately prepared to walk away from their job rather than be vaccinated. A checklist was also created to support social care providers to review their workforce resilience and business continuity arrangements as we approached autumn/winter 2021.All of this was in addition to the ongoing support for the adult social care sector that has been given throughout the pandemic.Louise Taylor, Executive Director of Adult Services and Health and Wellbeing, said: “Adult social care staff have been incredible throughout the pandemic – I have been completely blown away by the way the workforce has responded to this monumental challenge.“It is pleasing to see that some of the work carried out by the county council to support providers around staff vaccinations has been acknowledged as good practice for others to follow.“We will continue to support providers around this issue and maintain our ongoing support of the sector as we move into the next phase of the pandemic.”County Councillor Graham Gooch, Lancashire County Council’s cabinet member for adult social care, said: “Protecting our most vulnerable residents has been our top priority throughout the pandemic.“As well as protecting against severe disease, numerous studies have shown that vaccines provide some protection against transmission.“A recent review by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has also shown that people who have had one or more doses are less likely to develop Long Covid than those who remain unvaccinated.“If you have not yet your booster or your first or second dose – it is not too late – so please come forward and make sure you have as much protection from the virus as possible.”The ‘Protecting the Adult Social Care sector – Good Practice for Local Booster Vaccination’ paper can be read in full here: https://www.skillsforcare.org.uk/resources/documents/News-and-events/News/COVID-19/Good-practice-for-local-booster-vaccination-3-Feb-22.pdf
