NHS staff in England will be required to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 by April 2022, health secretary Sajid Javid has announced.
All full-time NHS staff in patient-facing roles will be expected to have received their coronavirus jabs as a condition of employment, unless they have a medical exemption, by 1 April 2022 – subject to parliamentary approval.
Javid said that he recognised the pressures this would put on the already stretched health workforce, acknowledging that it would likely mean that some staff would leave the health service.
He said that delaying its implementation until next year would “allow remaining colleagues [who haven’t been vaccinated] to make a positive choice” to protect patients.
Javid called on employers to “support and encourage” employees to get vaccinated. “No one in the NHS should be scapegoated, singled out or shamed [for not getting a vaccine so far],” he added.
Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said that the vast majority of frontline health workers had already been vaccinated, but said the spring deadline would give organisations time to ensure thier workforce is compliant.
Covid-19 vaccinations
Frontline NHS staff face mandatory Covid and flu vaccinations
He said: “Mandating Covid-19 vaccinations in the NHS offers a further incentive for staff who are eligible but have not come forward yet to get jabbed at time when the virus continues to be a threat and the NHS is working hard to deliver its broader services for patients.
“For this reason, we are relieved the government has listened to our plea to roll out the requirement away from what is expected to be the most challenging winter on record. This will also give leaders much needed time to continue to engage and support the remaining staff who have not yet been vaccinated and to understand the possible consequences at a local level.”
Plans to extend Covid-19 and flu vaccination requirements to other health and care settings were subject to a consultation which concluded on 22 October.
It follows the introduction of a similar requirement for care workers. From Thursday (11 November 2021), all workers in adult care homes in England will be required to be fully vaccinated.
David Kelly, general manager EMEA at workforce management app Deputy, said the requirements were “forcing many to choose between a career they love and their own personal beliefs or health concerns”.
“With staffing already under pressure, losing further workers will now also be a worry for NHS bosses. All eyes are on what happens in the care sector this week,” said Kelly.
“When the government says that the number of care workers taking up the vaccine ‘absolutely surged’ after it was made compulsory, they don’t mention the latest estimate that 60,000 unvaccinated care workers stand to lose their jobs on Thursday. There are already 105,000 vacancies for carers. There is a glaring disconnect with reality.”
The requirement is likely to cause headaches for HR, said BrightHR CEO Alan Price, “Staff may be reluctant to get vaccines and choose to raise grievances against their employers. Some trade unions have even threatened legal action following the introduction of a similar requirement in care homes earlier this year.”
He said that employers must be prepared to track and manage what vaccines employees have had and establish processes for fair redeployments or dismissals where necessary.
“It’s likely there will be a heightened focus on redeployment opportunities to avoid widespread resignations and dismissals. As such, HR teams may want to pro-actively consider available vacancies they could consider as suitable alternatives for affected workers,” said Price.
Organisations including the British Medical Association, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) and pharmacists body the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) were opposed to making vaccination a condition of employment for health workers, but have encouraged vaccine uptake.
HR teams may want to pro-actively consider available vacancies they could consider as suitable alternatives for affected workers” – Alan Price, BrightHR
RCN general secretary and chief executive, Pat Cullen, said: “The vast majority of NHS nursing staff received the Covid-19 vaccine as soon as it was offered, having led the vaccination roll out across the UK and continuing to do so with the booster programme.
“With the five months until this decision takes effect, the government and employers must continue to engage with the small minority who have chosen not to have the vaccine. This is vital to understanding their concerns, supporting them to understand the importance of the vaccine and to make that important choice.”
Dr Penelope Toff, co-chair of the BMA public health medicine committee, said in September: “The notions of making vaccines compulsory for anyone, including healthcare workers, is very complex and raises many ethical, legal and practical questions. Vaccination programmes work best when people have a chance to get their questions answered and are able to make an informed decision.
“While some healthcare workers have conditions in their employment contracts which require them to be immunised, for example against Hepatitis B, to work in certain environments, a proposal for compulsory vaccination of healthcare staff against Covid-19 and flu has far-reaching implications.”
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Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are not proposing to make Covid jabs mandatory for NHS workers or care home staff.
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