Health trusts which offered employees free flu jabs say they will repeat the
exercise next year after avoiding high levels of staff sickness.
HR managers say it is impossible to judge exactly how effective the
vaccinations were. But they say the number of staff reporting sick with flu has
not been as high as expected, and urged the private sector to follow suit.
Nigel Youngman, deputy human resources director at Norfolk Mental Healthcare
Trust, said: "We have not had any undue problem with flu. We did provide
flu jabs free to any of our staff who wanted them in October.
"It was the first year we have done it and about 230 staff out of 1,800
took that up. I believe a fair proportion of those were nursing staff.
"It is difficult to tell to what extent it has been successful but I
think we would be keen to repeat it."
John Adsett, head of personnel project development at Basildon and Thurrock
General Hospital Trust, said it also offered free vaccinations last October.
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"We were particularly targeting nursing staff. We have been hit but not
as badly as some places."
Vaccine manufacturer Medeva said it sells the jab for around £4 a dose.
