Bid to mitigate staff problems caused by compulsory Covid jabs

Government plans to make Covid vaccines mandatory for healthcare workers who have face-to-face contact with patients will apply to all activities regulated by the Care Quality Commission.

The mandatory jab stipulation will apply to non-clinical staff and to the private healthcare sector as well as the NHS.

According to Dawn Hodgkins, director of regulation at the Independent Healthcare Providers Network (IHPN), it is now vital that healthcare providers, including those in the independent sector, are supported as much as possible in the coming months to ensure they can comply. 

Dawn Hodgkins

She said: ‘As part of this, IHPN will be working with members, the NHS and wider health and care sector to share best practice around increasing the uptake of staff vaccinations – helping minimise any potential disruption to workforce supply from this policy.’

The BMA said it had serious concerns about making vaccination mandatory, but was pleased the Government had, as the association recommended, decided to delay the policy of mandatory vaccination for Covid-19 until next spring.

Council chairman Dr Chaand Nagpaul said: ‘There may be potential for some healthcare workers to move to non-patient facing roles, and we would urge employers to explore all possible options rather than lose staff completely.’