COVID-19 vaccination set to be a condition of deployment in CQC-regulated service providers of nursing and personal care

Monday, June 28, 2021

Regulations have been laid to make vaccination a condition of entry in all CQC regulated care homes on 22 June 2021. If the regulations are approved by Parliament, there will then be a 16-week grace period before the regulations come into force.

The regulations will require care home providers to allow entry to only those staff and volunteers who have received a complete course of their COVID-19 vaccination, unless they are exempt. Any professionals visiting a care home, such as healthcare workers, tradespeople, hairdressers and beauticians, and CQC inspectors will also be required to show they have been vaccinated before entering the home.

There will be exemptions including residents of care homes; friends and family of residents who are visiting; those entering to assist with an emergency or carrying out urgent maintenance work; those under the age of 18; those visiting service users who are dying or experiencing bereavement and individuals who should not be vaccinated for clinical reasons.

The government are currently working with a wide range of stakeholders to draft operational guidance to support providers when implementing the policy and they intend to publish the guidance by the end of July 2021.