On Monday and Tuesday of this past week I had the pleasure of spending time with colleagues from across the United Kingdom and Ireland at a meeting of the Five Nations Care Forum. This is a bringing together of senior staff from social care representative bodies and happens a couple of times a year. This spring meeting was hosted by Boots and took place in their headquarters in Nottingham. As well as discussions on the key issues facing social care, I particularly enjoyed the opportunity to discover more about the history of Boots and the critical role of pharmacy in the support and care of all citizens but most especially for our older population.
In many ways the world of pharmacy is facing similar challenges to social care with issues around public and governmental funding especially for community pharmacy, issues relating to recruitment and retention of staff, changes in the role of the pharmacist and the need to prioritise resource around research and development. But one thing I was continually struck by in my discussions was just how important it is that we have a constructive and positive relationship between those of us who work in social care and those who work in pharmacy. From the need to better support community care staff to assist folks in their use of medicines, and this will only grow as more and more people are supported at home rather than in hospitals, to the need to address issues of ecology and sustainability around medicine waste there is a need for a very close and developed relationship between social care and pharmacy. And as in all things this relationship needs to be nurtured at both local and national level to be of real benefit to all.
I was reflecting on all this when I discovered that in a couple of days on Monday 29th April, we will be recognising World Immunology Day. Indeed this year’s theme is “Immunity Through the Ages: Navigating the Science of Aging and Immunology.”
Some might ask why is someone who works in the world of social care reflecting on immunology? But in the light of a global pandemic which devastated so many lives and communities I would hope the role of immunology would be self-evident but also that its significance for all in both social care and in community would be better understood and elevated. Sadly, I suspect with the passage of time except for those who continue to be concerned about the impact of Covid on their own lives and those of others, for the majority thoughts of viruses and pandemics are fading into the rear or even worse are being deliberately ignored or deprioritised.
The British Society for Immunology states that:
‘Immunology has its origins in the study of how the body protects itself against infectious diseases caused by microorganisms, such as bacteria, viruses, protozoa, and fungi, and also parasitic organisms, such as helminth worms.’
This year there is a particular focus on the impacts of infectious disease amongst the old.
For those of us working in social care issues of immunology, infection prevention and control and vaccination have become centre stage to our concern and focus since Covid and for the majority of practitioners they remain so. Sadly, there are still people dying of Covid every week and there are still individuals who every week die as a result of developing other infectious diseases such as influenza. Yet the impact of infectious disease seems to be continually marginalised and ignored. So, the role of immunology remains or at least should remain of primary concern to the practitioners of social care.
When I was in Nottingham the latest report from Public Health Scotland was published and it showed a fall in Covid-19 and flu vaccine uptake for all eligible groups in the winter that has just passed when the figures of uptake were compared to winter 2022/23.
Like many I am increasingly concerned that vaccination rates seem to be going in the wrong direction. That concern has critically to do with the extent to which – despite the naysayers and anti-vaccination lobby – there is clear evidence that vaccinations have saved the lives of and protected tens of millions of individuals against so many conditions, not least Covid and influenzas.
In addressing the figures, Dr Sam Ghebrehewet, Head of Vaccination and Immunisation, at Public Health Scotland said:
“Vaccination remains the best protection against severe outcomes of both flu and COVID-19 and reduces the likelihood of severe illness, hospital admission, and in some cases death. Work is underway to understand the reasons behind the decrease in vaccine uptake. This is crucial to ensure that those most vulnerable are aware of their eligibility for vaccination.”
I suspect that some of the answer to those explorations will be (though I know this will not be articulated) a lessening in focus and priority on the role of vaccines in general not least by the prioritisation given to it through planning and resource allocation. At the height of the pandemic or most especially in the latter days of late 2020 when the first vaccines began to be rolled out, there was significant co-operation between the worlds of health and social care around vaccination both for residents in care homes, older people supported in the community and the health and social care workforce. That co-operation and joint working is sadly much diminished and so I fear that there is a lack of co-ordination, targeted support and priority.
We know for vaccination programmes to work well that vaccines need to be delivered to people in a manner which is as easy as possible. For many this will be at their local community pharmacy and for health and social care staff at their place of work. Whilst vaccines at work remain a priority for colleagues in the NHS sadly this is not the case for social care staff. Expecting workers in their own time to go and get vaccinated is inevitably going to reduce uptake not least when we are talking about those who are in roles which do not earn a lot of money and many of whom have to work extra shifts or extra jobs. As I have said on numerous occasions for a vaccination programme to work in the care sector, we need to take the vaccines to people, and we need to make sure that we address myth and scepticism which exists around vaccination.
We can and must do a lot more to protect everyone from the very known risks of infectious diseases and as my own organisation, Scottish Care, commented in response to the report, I believe that this should, include a targeted campaign to increase the confidence of all, especially social care staff, which both addresses vaccine scepticism and also popular myths and attitudes which suggest that catching Covid-19 or the flu are not serious.
Walking around the Boots headquarters and exploring the rich history of an organisation that for the last 175 years has been bringing medicines and pharmacy to the British public showed me just how critical pharmacy has been in addressing the ravages brought about by diseases. The fact that in general terms life expectancy has been extended and most live in health has been because over history we have eradicated so many infectious diseases which were once deadly. But addressing the challenges of infectious disease did not happen by accident – but rather it was achieved through targeted, joint working, relationships and partnerships at local level. So increasingly I feel we need to break down the barriers which sometimes exist between the worlds of pharmacy and social care, increase mutual understanding and professional regard, and together prioritise ways in which we can ensure all who need to be are protected from disease and infection. If the pandemic has taught us anything it has surely taught us about how important it is to work across boundaries, to know the worlds of others and to avoid silo thinking and planning.
As we think about immunology and vaccination, like many in the world of social care I think about the challenges that a new season of infectious disease, whether Covid or influenza might bring, and I increasingly wonder as to whether we really have learned the lessons of a pandemic for which we were so badly prepared. Are we working together to address known and unknown immunological threats? Certainly, given the complete absence of social care provider contribution in the current Scottish Government pandemic planning, the signs are not good.
Donald Macaskill
Last Updated on 27th April 2024 by donald.macaskill
