Mandatory vaccinations come into effect for York and North Yorkshire care home workers
From today, all care home workers in England must be double jabbed against coronavirus, unless they are medically exempt.
All care home staff and volunteers in York and North Yorkshire must now be double vaccinated against coronavirus, unless they are medically exempt.
Tens of thousands of care home staff in England who haven't had two doses of a coronavirus vaccine will be unable to legally work.
Vaccines will be mandatory for NHS workers in England from 1st April.
Springfield Healthcare, which runs the Chocolate Works care home in York, has lost 4 staff members out of a total workforce of 500 because of the changes.
CEO of Springfield Healthcare, Graeme Lee, says they've done everything they can to reassure workers and highlight the importance of the vaccine:
"First and foremost, my care staff have done an amazing job over the last 18 months. They have all performed well above and beyond in incredibly challenging circumstances.
"We welcome vaccinations for staff - we have to keep our vulnerable residents safe. That said, on the back of 18 months of incredibly challenging times this is just one other thing that our care staff have to deal with. It's another anxious time.
"When it was announced we probably had 70% of our staff vaccinated. We were looking at 30% of our staff who hadn't been vaccinated, or were anxious or were saying 'no'. We were very concerned a number of months ago, but we embarked on a real programme of communication, help and support.
"We did everything we could to explain that having a vaccine was the safest way of combating Covid. Today, the number of staff unvaccinated is close to 0% - we've have only lost 4 staff members out of a total of 500 in the care home company.
"Whilst we're very pleased at that number they are all staff that we didn't want to lose, and are people who were well respected. That was quite distressing for them, but due to their own beliefs, such as religion in one case, they were adamant that they weren't going to have the jab.
"It's been difficult for them and also the staff teams who they work with".
Providers do have the option to re-deploy workers into non-frontline roles.
Some providers across England had - right up until yesterday - been calling for a delay to the regulations coming in, to give people more time.
Graeme says the whole economy is struggling to recruit staff, with the care sector no different:
"We're used to challenges in the care sector, and we will hopefully still be able to attract good quality people who see it as a real vocation.
"What's really important about being in the care sector is making a difference. We certainly want to try and attract great people who can add to our existing teams, to be able to care for people in our care safely.
"The staff we have are resilient, and we've done a lot of work in the last few months in preparing them for today. We're looking at a new wellbeing strategy - a lot of staff have had some traumatic experiences over the last 18 months both personally and professionally.
"We want a new wellbeing charter to look at how we can really support our staff, and to make sure our culture is right. We want to be there for them, and I think overall the care sector will prove to be resilient - as it always has".