Protecting care workers in the twindemic

By Professor Martin Green OBE

AS WE brace the cold of winter, the flu season is now upon us. This year we have a fear of what is described as a ‘twindemic’ of both Covid and flu. Recent data shows that there are more people currently in hospital due to flu than there are because of Covid, and these deadly viruses are a great threat to everybody who lives or works in care services.

Another aspect of the current wave of both flu and Covid is that because of restrictions and the wearing of masks, many people have not been able to build up immunity.

There is an expectation that this flu season may be one of the worst unless we take some serious and very swift action to mitigate transmission.

Over the last few weeks, the Department of Health and Social Care have been urging people to vaccinate against the flu and ensure they are fully up-to-date on their Covid boosters.

There is some good news as the new Covid booster and the current flu vaccination are very effective in protecting people from the worst excesses of these viruses.

There has long been a tradition of care staff vaccinating against the flu, but we must ensure that as many people who work in care services get this vaccination.

The vaccination process for people who use care services is very well developed, and the vast majority of those in care have the flu and Covid vaccination.

The figures for staff could be better, and there needs to be a really clear push to get vaccinated as many people as possible before the worst excesses of the winter flu virus hit the UK.

The task of getting people to understand how deadly both flu and Covid are is made more difficult because many of the restrictions that we used to have are now gone for the majority of people.

We have seen the opening of hospitality venues, and people can now travel and socialise in the same way they did in the past. n Professor Martin Green OBE is an Expert Advisory Council member for P&G Professional and the chief executive of Care England.

While this is a positive development, it does, of course, mean that staff in care services (and many service users) will now be much more exposed to the possibility of getting either Covid or flu.

The Covid pandemic highlighted the importance of infection control and ensuring that the buildings within which care is delivered have the highest level of hygiene and cleanliness.

The pandemic made us understand the important role that our domestic teams play in keeping residents and staff safe, and this understanding should lead us to prioritise cleaning regimes throughout every care service.

We are lucky that several really great products offer the highest level of protection against viruses. Not only do they provide protection, but they are also easy to use and enable domestic staff to be confident that once they have cleaned a surface, the area will stay clear of germs for some time.

P&G Professional has several products specifically designed for commercial use that offer the highest hygiene and virus control level. What is also good to know, from the point of view of care providers, is that many of these products have been developed from brands that are known and recognised in the domestic market.

This can help people to have faith in the brand, and people who use services are confident that these products are effective.

For example, when used according to label instructions, Flash Professional Multi-Surface Cleaner offers disinfection and fast contact time to kill 99.99 per cent of bacteria and viruses in as little as 15 seconds, including SARS-CoV-2, which causes Covid.

The ease of use of many of these products also provides the most efficient way of ensuring safety, enabling staff to spend more time supporting residents.

Products such as Ariel Professional also ensure that linens are as clean and germ-free as possible, have familiar household smells, and are known to residents and their families.

This enables the care setting to have a feeling of home, as well as a safe environment in which to deliver care. The use of Fairy Professional in dishwashers also assures people that crockery is clean and germ-free.

This will be a very tough winter, and we expect there may be much risk from the flu and Covid.

However, care services can be assured that a range of projects available to them will mitigate this risk and make outbreaks of flu or Covid as low as possible.