23 nurses left Cheshire East Council contracted companies because they weren’t vaccinated against Covid, writes Belinda Ryan.
And the council is preparing for the April “double jab” deadline that could hit all of its nursing and health workers on the front lines.
On November 11th, the so-called “Jab-or-Job” target date was passed, during which both vaccinations were compulsory for caregivers.
At the Sandbach Adult and Health Committee Council meeting, Cllr Anthony Critchley (Crewe Central, Lab) asked the Operations Director of Adult Social Welfare, Jill Broomhall, “You said we are almost at a crisis point as a country with that [lack of] home care workers.
“How many carers did we lose last week?
“And how was the process when we lost some?
“Was it overnight – you didn’t have your vaccination, you’re gone.”
Ms. Broomhall replied, “From a local authority perspective, we have not lost any staff.
“A total of 23 employees have left the care market that we commission and commission.
“Of course, the individual employers would sort this out, but people couldn’t work after midnight on November 10th.
“As of April, vaccination will appear to affect all of our frontline services, be it social workers, home care workers, all health workers, but that will be from April and we will need a lot of work coordinating all of this.”
(Library image for display purposes only)