Health bosses voice concerns over potential loss of staff due to mandatory vaccination

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Tuesday 11th January 2022


Some health bosses have voiced concerns over the potential loss of staff due to mandatory vaccination within the NHS.

King’s College Hospital chief, Clive Kay, said that there are genuine concerns about the number of employees who could leave the NHS as a result of compulsory vaccination. Mr Kay suggested that the most recent data shows that up to 10% of the 14,000 staff employed by the trust are not fully vaccinated.

Mr Kay said that his job was to try and encourage as many people as possible who have not yet had their vaccines or boosters to come forward and have their jab, but ultimately, there will be employees who don’t want to take that course of action. Ministers confirmed that all NHS workers will need to be fully vaccinated by April. The ruling came after a similar policy was enforced in care homes in November 2021. 

One of the key issues for NHS bosses is staff shortages, which will only get worse if people leave their jobs because they are not fully vaccinated. An ICU doctor working at King’s College Hospital recently challenged the Health Secretary, Sajid Javid, during a visit to the hospital. Steve James said that he had natural immunity against Covid due to a recent infection and was not happy about the prospect of losing his job because he didn’t want to have the vaccine and believes that vaccination should be a personal choice. 

Mr Kay insisted that he and his colleagues were not forcing people to get jabbed, but rather encouraging them and providing with information to help them to make a decision. When asked about how many members of staff could lose their jobs on the BBC, Mr Kay suggested that many people had already decided to have the vaccine and he was hopeful that more would follow suit and have their first, second and third doses in the weeks ahead. 

The health secretary said that over 90% of NHS staff were fully vaccinated in November 2021 and 93% were double-jabbed. This is higher than the national average, which stood at 90% and 83% respectively. 

Ministers say that mandatory vaccination is a move to protect patients and staff.