Agency care staff ‘higher virus risk’

CARE homes may be more than two-and-a-half times more likely to infect residents with Covid-19 if they rely heavily on agency staff, research has found.

Staff shortages meant many care homes had to turn to agency workers during the pandemic to ensure residents’ needs were met.

But those where temporary staff made up on average 10 per cent of the total workforce multiplied the risk of residents contracting the virus by 2.5 compared to having sufficient employees. The risk was also oneand-a-half times higher than if the home was understaffed.

Researchers at the University of Strathclyde assessed the impact of agency staff on the spread of Covid19 in different types of care homes.

Agency staff had the biggest impact on infection risk in smaller care homes. They were also more likely to catch the virus compared to permanent staff. Testing of agency staff was found to be an important measure to mitigate the risk, but forming bubbles of care homes and restricting agency staff to designated facilities only had a limited impact on the spread of the virus.

The study’s co-author Dr Itamar Megiddo said the research supported the use of policies limiting staff working in multiple homes unless testing compliance is high.

He said: ‘Care homes are heavily reliant on agency/bank staff due to staff shortages.

‘While regular testing with high compliance can help reduce infections, the risk of spread is still higher in homes using agency staff.

‘At the same time, we need to recognise that these staff are necessary to maintain quality of care and of the life of residents.’

The study has been published in PLOS Computational Biology.