Coronavirus: Chesterfield social worker claims Derbyshire County Council 'putting staff lives at risk'

A Chesterfield social worker has accused council chiefs of ‘putting their own workers at risk’ by failing to provide protective equipment amid the coronavirus crisis.
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The children’s department social worker, who asked not to be named, claims Derbyshire County Council has not provided hand sanitiser, masks or gloves and said his Chesterfield office was without water to wash hands.

He also says staff are facing spiralling workloads and still making home visits despite the lockdown put in place by the Government from Monday evening.

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County Hall insists it is doing all it can ‘to minimise the risk of cross infection’ and continuing to review the guidance as the situation develops.

Derbyshire County Council's headquarters, County Hall in Matlock.Derbyshire County Council's headquarters, County Hall in Matlock.
Derbyshire County Council's headquarters, County Hall in Matlock.

The social worker says he would normally have ‘anything from 12 to 25 ongoing cases’ to deal with but since the coronavirus crisis began staff have been told that only half of the team are allowed in the office or the field.

“This means I will be in the office one week while some of my colleagues will be working from home, then the following week we swap over, which means our workload in the office has now theoretically doubled.

“While in the office/field we have to make home visits to homes which can have multiple family members.

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“We are instructed to phone prior to a visit to ask if any members of the household have any symptoms, but as we know, people can have the virus without showing symptoms.

“The council hasn’t provided us with masks, gloves, wipes or sanitiser gel, to make matters worse we currently don’t have any running water at our Chesterfield office in order to wash our hands.”

A spokesperson for Derbyshire County Council said there was only a 20-minute, temporary interruption to water supply at the office.

“We’d like to thank all of our staff who are doing an incredible job in very trying circumstances,” she added.

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“The work they do, both those providing social work and care and support in people’s homes, is critical to ensuring that vulnerable families across Derbyshire are supported.

“We have put measures in place to ensure our key workers are helped to maintain the government’s advice on social distancing.

“However circumstances are changing very quickly and our social workers are now predominantly working from home where they continue to undertake their duties and so overall workload remains the same.

“All home visits have been categorised to ensure that only those that are essential, and cannot be conducted virtually or over the phone, are undertaken.

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“Government and Public Health England advice is that personal protective equipment is only required for frontline staff if anyone they are visiting is symptomatic or confirmed as having the virus and this is being made available to those that need it.

“We are currently working with partner organisations to ensure our staff have access to the personal protective equipment they need.

“We recognise this is an anxious time for our staff and we are committed to ensuring we do all we can to minimise the risk of cross infection including continuing to review the guidance as this situation develops.”