Council say only 57 carers unvaccinated ‘NOT ONE SINGLE HOME HAS RAISED CONCERNS’
SOCIAL care chiefs are confident all care homes in Stoke-on-trent will still be able to operate after today’s staff vaccination deadline.
From today, all workers and visitors at care homes must be fully vaccinated against Covid-19, unless medically exempt, following the Government announcement earlier this year.
While the latest NHS figures show that hundreds of care home staff in the Potteries had yet to have both jabs as of October 31, leaders at Stoke-on-trent City Council say their more up-to-date information presents a more favourable picture.
According to the council, only 57 care home workers in Stoke-on-trent remain completely unvaccinated ahead of today’s deadline – as opposed to the 253 reported in the latest NHS weekly update.
Paul Edmondson-jones, director of adult social care at the city council, also says the number of care home workers who are yet to be fully vaccinated is 143, far less than the 532 reported by the NHS.
And overall, the city council has no concerns that any care home in Stoke-on-trent will be short of staff as a result of the deadline.
Dr Edmondson-jones added: “We work on a daily basis with care homes, and so we have been tracking the vaccination rates.
“Our figures show only 57 staff are now unvaccinated, and they will be leaving the care homes this week. Of the staff who are not fully vaccinated, a lot will be getting their second dose soon. There are also workers on maternity leave who haven’t had both doses, but they will be fully vaccinated before they come back.
“We also know 38 of the 83 care homes in Stoke-on-trent have now vaccinated 100 per cent of their staff, and that almost all others have fewer than five not fully vaccinated.
“Not a single home has said to us that they have concerns about being able to continue operating.
“If there had been any concerns we would have put in place short-term measures to deal with that.
“There is always a lag in the national NHS figures, and so we expect our data will be reflected by NHS within two or three weeks.”