Staff in the NHS who don’t have the Covid vaccination will be dismissed after two weeks of formal meetings.
Employers are being given new guidance by the NHS that all front-line workers who do not have a vaccination will be summoned to formal meetings starting February 4, and warned they could face termination.
According to NHS England guidance, notices will be sent from the date indicated. March 31 marks the expiration of the notice period.
Frontline personnel must receive both Covid jab doses by April 1. This means that the second dose must be received by February 3.
Unvaccinated workers can now be transferred to managerial positions within the NHS.
They are not required to assist workers in finding a suitable alternative job and will not pay redundancy to anyone who is fired.
This document says: “It’s important to remember that this isn’t a redundancy exercise.
“In the contexts of regulations, there’s no diminution or cessation work of any particular type.
‘Employers will not be concerned with finding “suitable alternative employment” and there will be no redundancy entitlements, including payments, whether statutory or contractual, triggered by this process.’
Six percent of NHS employees are still unvaccinated, and more than 80,000 remain. Last year’s estimates by the Government suggested that 73,000 NHS workers could be leaving.
The unions warned against the potential for a “catastrophic effect” on the health system if this policy is implemented in April.
One in ten staff members in some trusts has not had their vaccines administered. That means hospitals in these areas could see a drop in workers in coming weeks. London and Birmingham have the highest levels of vaccine participation among employees.
People arrive at Royal London Hospital, part of Barts Health NHS Trust, which has one of the lowest vaccine uptake among staff in England, with 11 per cent of staff yet to have their first jab
A Whipps Cross University Hospital ambulance, which is part of Barts Health NHS Trust. Only 89 percent of employees have had their first Covid vaccination.
Some trusts have as high as 12 percent of their staff who are not vaccinated. This means that hospitals may lose as much as one-tenth of the workers they employ if the employees do not get the vaccine within the next few weeks.
The 30 NHS trusts with lowest staff vaccination rates are almost all located in London or Birmingham.
The regulators have been instructed to warn NHS organizations if there are staff shortages or other threats to patient safety.
To verify their vaccination status, or to provide exemption proof, anyone who has been immunized will be required to produce their Covid Pass.
In November the same “no jabs, no jobs” policy was implemented in social services. Estimates suggest that 60,000 people were not yet vaccinated.
Chiefs of care warned that the plan would cause a crisis in the sector already facing difficulties. This could lead to the deaths of residents living in unsafe homes and the loss of a sixth their staff.
The NHS had earlier warned that one out of five beds in the hospital was being occupied with patients who can’t leave because they are not medically fit. There were also many people waiting to receive social care assistance.
To avoid similar shortages in key workers, the Trades Union Congress (TUC), called for the NHS policy to be “delayed with immediate effects”.
According to the report, the NHS “cannot afford” to lose qualified and experienced staff.
Medical trade unions also argued against the change to provide more time for hospitals to get staff consented for injections.
Royal College of Nursing declared that this move is likely to go wrong and was ‘an act of suicide’. Royal College Midwives also warned against compulsory vaccinations, stating that they will only cause staffing levels and other problems and could have catastrophic consequences.
And the NHS Confederation, which represents NHS trusts in England, said hospitals frontline staff will be pushed out of their roles, leading to ‘more gaps in capacity at a time of intense pressure and patient demand’.
Stephen Powis was the NHS England’s national medical director.
He stated that the NHS employers would continue to encourage employees who are not yet vaccinated, to accept the second and first doses before April 1st when the regulations go into effect.
Concerns have already been raised about a shortage of healthcare workers. On January 9th, 40,000 people were involuntarily absented due to Covid-related reasons.
Three days prior to the outbreak, nearly 50,000 people were left at home by the virus.
Yesterday’s TUC survey found that more than 250,000 workers self-isolated last month, with no decent sick pay or even any sick pay.
TUC claimed that the reduction of self-isolation from five to six days, which was effective yesterday provided they are negative on the five- and six-day days respectively, will not resolve the country’s’sick-pay problem.