Sheffield Children’s Hospital bosses plan to protect patients when Covid staff jab rules arrive

Hundreds of people took to the city centre on Saturday, January 22, to march against the new policy, which will see unvaccinated health workers out of a job in April if they choose not to comply.

The new rules will require any NHS workers to have had their first vaccine by February 3, and to be fully jabbed by April 1 if they wish to keep their frontline roles.

The Royal College of GPs has now called on the Government to delay the deadline in a bid to avoid staff shortages.

Sally Shearer, executive director of nursing and acting deputy chief executive at Sheffield Children’s Hospital, said: “The NHS has always been clear that staff should get the COVID vaccination to protect themselves, loved ones and patients and the overwhelming majority have already done so. At Sheffield Children’s we’re continuing to support colleagues and offering both vaccines ahead of 1 April 2022.

“We are putting plans into place to make sure there is not an impact on patient care if colleagues are not fully vaccinated by this time. Our sole focus is making sure patients receive the care they need and we are doing everything we can to ensure this.”

No comment has yet been available from Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, which runs several hospitals in Sheffield including the Northern General, Hallamshire and Weston Park Hospitals in the city. However, the trust expects to have a clearer picture of its position next month.

Those at the weekend protest in the city said they were marching against the ‘infringement on their freedom’ and in a bid to ‘stop any division’ between those who have had their Covid jabs and those who have not.

Levels of vaccination in Sheffield have been described by health officials as the highest among similar sized cities, with many local organisations involved in the vaccinations programme

But GP Dr Marion Sloan recently told Sheffield Clinical Commissioning Group governors the programme was now finding it was down to the hard core of people who were saying ‘no thank you’.

She said: "We still have that need for public health messages to go out.”

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