Ambulance staff working with care home patients will need to be fully vaccinated

Under Government policy anyone who works with patients in care homes will need to have had both doses of the vaccine by November 11.

This includes patient transport service (PTS) staff at West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS), who have received letters outlining that the vaccine is mandatory unless they have "specific exemptions".

In a briefing to staff, non-emergency services operations delivery director Michelle Brotherton said: "The situation has been mandated by the Government which means all operational staff must get both jabs by November 11 unless they are medically exempt."

The briefing adds: "Remember, 20 per cent of those who have died were in a care setting, so these are particularly vulnerable people and it is right that we do our part to help protect them."

Staff are expected to have had their first jab by September 15, while bosses are looking at the possibility of setting up "special clinics" where people can get vaccinated.

Emergency crews are exempt.

The Department of Health and Social Care said that from November 11 "all care home workers, and anyone entering a care home, will need to be fully vaccinated, unless they are exempt under the regulations".

Figures released last week showed that almost 1,500 care home workers in the Black Country and Staffordshire are yet to receive their Covid-19 vaccine, around eight per cent of the workforce.

It has prompted fears over a national staffing shortage, with care homes potentially being forced to sack staff if they don’t meet the Government requirement.

In Shropshire, the PTS is run by private firm Falck.