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Adult Care Services are, at the moment, mainly working with the problems of covid.
Other work is going on and continues to be monitored but covid and attendant questions have taken most of the directors attention.
That is not to say he and his team feel that other things are not important, if you see something you think is wrong concerning adult services it must still be reported, immediately.
Apart from the implementation of the vaccine it is generally agreed that everything concerned with the covid pandemic has probably been at least four weeks too late.
If the first lockdown had been called just one week earlier it would have saved 21,000 lives, and there would not be such a catastrophic spread of the virus.
But we are where we are as an authority.
All GPs in Wokingham are vaccinating and have offered the vaccine to their patients over 80. There have been some problems with the reliability of vaccine delivery, practices having to cancel appointments when the vaccine didn’t arrive, and then make new appointments rapidly.
The director of adult services has prioritised care staff being vaccinated at Wokingham Hospital.
The take up of care home staff has only been 45% on the first call but more are coming forward on a second call, partly because of excellent Public Health webinars.
Care homes seem to be doing better this lockdown than the first, adult services have done much work to ensure they’re as safe as possible.
They will never be totally safe as staff come and go into the homes, but cross-infection between homes has been quashed as staff can only serve one home.
The transfer of covid patients to care homes from hospital was also stopped in the first lockdown thanks to Liberal Democrat observation and incisive work by the director of adult care.
A problem adult care services and I worry about is that some people don’t seem to understand the fact that, although you’ve had the vaccine, you must still follow covid rules.
The vaccine will, in a very high percentage of cases, mean that if you are infected with covid your reaction to the virus will be decreased.
There is no evidence how infectious you still are, even though you’ve had the vaccine, if you get covid. I have heard people say they would think you would be less infectious, but there is no proof at the moment.
People must take care not to put others in danger. The other problem is that the vaccine isn’t tested on children.
I know GPs hope a nasal spray can be produced, but this took years for the flu vaccine.
The Lateral Flow Test cannot be relied to on to be 100% accurate or as a way of getting out of covid restrictions. But these tests are better than nothing and, especially, an indication if you are asymptomatic.
They are useful for people working on the front line with the public as they will pick up some, but not all, people carrying the virus.
There is a site at Shute End and they are setting up other sites in the authority. People who use this service must have at least one, and preferably two, tests every week, a signed deal.
This time of the covid pandemic has been very stressful for most of us but especially the director of adult services and his team working with problems.
I, and my Liberal Democrat colleagues, would like to thank them for all their hard and dedicated work, often beyond the call of duty.
Adult care services officers have endeavoured to ensure that Wokingham is as safe a place as possible, considering the difficulties brought by the pandemic and rapidly changing Government directives.
Cllr David Hare, is the Liberal Democrat lead for Adult Care Services at Wokingham Borough Council
