Luton and Dunstable Hospital staffing warning over mandatory jabs

A major NHS hospital could be "in deep trouble" if unvaccinated health staff are dismissed, a councillor has warned.

From April, front-line NHS staff in England will need to have had the Covid jab - or will be moved to another role.

Luton Labour borough councillor David Agbley said that could make staffing issues at the Luton and Dunstable University Hospital worse.

The trust that runs the hospital said it was "doing everything" it could to ensure its staff were vaccinated.

Under new laws, front-line workers as well as non-clinical staff who might come across patients, such as receptionists, porters and cleaners, must be vaccinated.

Mr Agbley raised his concerns at a council scrutiny health and social care review group meeting last week, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

He asked David Carter, chief executive of Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the Luton and Dunstable Hospital, what percentage of hospital staff would be "dismissed if you don't find alternative employment for them" if they were unvaccinated.

"If you're struggling with staffing levels currently, you'll be in deep trouble," he added.

Mr Carter replied that about 90% of staff had been vaccinated and that did not include some who had been vaccinated overseas.

He also said some not vaccinated were pre-retirement "and will be departing anyway".

But he said: "We don't know how many staff will be in that position. The reality is we'd have very limited ability to redeploy the staff into other roles.

"We're doing everything we can to minimise that number. We're hoping it will be a relatively low figure, perhaps small hundreds, but that still could be significant."

Mr Carter said within hospital staff there were "strong views" and some had become "more entrenched in their position" when mandatory vaccinations for front-line NHS staff was introduced.

"Our time is running out. Staff need to be vaccinated by early February for their first vaccination," he added.

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