Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi, My adult daughter lives in supported living.She lives alone, with 24 hour 1-1 support. She is on the autistic spectrum and has some additional physical difficulties, which mean she needs guiding whilst outside.She has generally tolerated all the Covid restrictions quite well.
However, this has changed as over the last few weeks the rules about what her carers wear seem to have changed. These are the rules for when she is Covid-free.
In the house her carers must always wear a mask. They are not allowed to eat or drink with her, so all meals are eaten alone. Staff put on gloves to hand her her meds, meals etc. Some additionally wear aprons and goggles to do this. She dresses herself, but needs help putting on her shoes. To help her, cares put on gloves, mask and apron (again, some also use eye protectors)
When outside in the community, staff are now wearing gloves, apron and mask. Some wear goggles. If they go out with her for a meal they are expected by their agency to sit wearing gloves, mask and apron. They are not allowed to eat or drink with her.
Unsurprisingly she is not taking this well. Staff are saying their agency says these are national guidelines. and cannot be changed.
Is anyone else in a similar situation or have any advice? This is likely to go on at least until Christmas, and is causing her enormous distress. In addition to that, I'm worried that if staff do wear this level of PPE with her when outside members of the public may assume she has some disease/condition that they also need protecting from, and this could lead to problems.
Hi. Thanks for replying. Have you seen other care agencies wearing this level of protection outside? I haven't.
She is upset and so are staff because they are being told they have to do this. Remember, anything she objects to that goes beyond national guidelines is likely to be in breach of the MCA.
Why do care staff only need this level of PPE when outside if they are with her? They don't wear it when they are out in the community by themselves
It's also my responsibility as a parent to be her advocate. The Mental Capacity Act is the guide here.
Re Employment law - like any other law it has to be inine with all others - ie not breach them. Requiring staff to do something that breaches Human Rights or MCA leaves them liable.
As for being out in public, neither of us have seen any other agencies requiring their staff to do this.
As a parent, I am using the usual code words we all get used to. So for 'upset' read extreme mental distress and violent physical and verbal attacks upon the staff
The guidance seems to provide that where this is the case a risk assessment should be done, and that is for indoors. The agency are refusing to do risk assessments for anyone.
I can't find any guidance that says this level of PPE is needed outside. Are you seriously saying I should let this situation just carry on until at least Christmas?
I'm sorry if my last post sounded rude/ short. I am trying to decide how to tackle this best. It isn't the carers fault - they have to do as they are told. But a faceless manager seems to be plucking 'rules' from the air and ignoring all the distress this is causing. If it's genuinely something that has to be done by every agency we will have to work with it.
Thanks for the contact info. I'll do that next week.
The MCA is pretty great. If you can establish capacity, and that's it's default position, the person protected by it can be responsible for own decisions about their life. In normal circumstances it's a godsend.