Retired nurses who return to the register to help battle coronavirus will be able to work longer hours than they would be permitted to under normal circumstances.
The government’s emergency bill, which is due to be published tomorrow, will include a clause which will remove the 16 hours a week limit for some retired nurses returning to practice.
"During a pandemic, a lot of people who work in health and social care could be off sick"
Government document
In a briefing document about what the coronavirus bill is set to contain, the government stated it would “enable regulators to emergency register” suitable candidates to be regulated health professionals.
This includes nurses, midwives and paramedics who can then be deployed appropriately by local services to "increase the available health and social care workforce and enable essential health and care services to function during the height of the epidemic".
Previously, staff under the NHS Pension Scheme could only work 16 hours per week or less during their first calendar month after returning to practice in order to continue to receive their pension.
This rule has been suspended to safeguard pension payments and allow returning staff to work at full capacity.
The Nursing and Midwifery Council has not yet commented on the government's newly released details of the coronavirus bill.
The new bill is also expected to include measures to support health services by bolstering the social care workforce.
Under the legislation, it will be easier for social workers who have recently left the profession to "temporarily" re-join their regulator to support public services during the outbreak.
Formerly regulated by the Health and Care Professions Council until December 2019, Social Work England is now the body responsible for nearly 100,000 social workers.
Social Work England registers all social workers, ensures continuing professional development, regulates education providers and handles fitness-to-practise concerns.
Additionally, the proposed law will allow some local authorities in England and Wales to prioritise some social services over others.
Councils are obliged to provide all social services, but now they will have to ensure they meet “the most urgent and serious” services even if this means delaying others.
Therefore changes will override the Care Act 2014 in England and the Social Services and Wellbeing (Wales) Act 2014.
"Every initiative should include social care not just the NHS"
Martin Green
The proposals said: "During a pandemic, a lot of people who work in health and social care could be off sick or may need to care for loved ones.
"This could mean that local authorities, which are responsible for social care, may not be able to do all the things they are usually required to do.
"Local authorities will still be expected to do as much as they can to comply with their duties to meet needs during this period and these amendments would not remove the duty of care they have towards an individual’s risk of serious neglect or harm."
Chief executive of Care England, Martin Green, said: “Care England supports any initiative by the government to bring more skilled workers into the health and social care sector.
“We need every initiative to include social care as an essential part of the response to Covid-19 and every initiative should include social care not just the NHS.”
The bill will also include measures to bring in more volunteers to support health and care services.
Leaving in blocks of two, three or four weeks, new volunteers will be compensated for any earnings lost under a UK-wide compensation fund.
The plans said: "Volunteers play a critical role in the delivery of health and social care services and are particularly important in caring for the most vulnerable in our society, such as the elderly, those with multiple long-term conditions or those suffering from mental ill-health."
All of the measures will have a time limit of two years and will not come into force immediately but as the UK governments decide when they become necessary.
Health secretary Matt Hancock has previously described the changes as “temporary” and “proportionate”.
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