More than 1,000 Sheffield Teaching Hospitals Trust staff unvaccinated

The Government is soon to announce its decision on whether to make vaccines mandatory for frontline NHS staff, though several leading health bodies have cautioned against doing so.

NHS England figures published for the first time show that of the 17,387 health care workers at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, 16,194 (93.1 per cent) had been given their first dose of the vaccine by the end of September.

Though this is above the average for NHS trusts across England, it means 1,193 workers are still unvaccinated.

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The figures also show 15,708 (90.3 per cent) had received both doses at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Across England, 110,000 healthcare workers have not had a vaccine.

Around 92.4 per cent of staff have had at least one dose, and 89 per cent both, though rates vary significantly at NHS Trusts across the country.

A government consultation on whether to make vaccines mandatory for health workers closes on October 22. It also questions whether flu vaccines should be a requirement.

The Royal College of GPs strongly urged all health and care professionals to be vaccinated, saying it will help protect them, their colleagues and their patients from contracting Covid-19.

However, Professor Martin Marshall, chair of the Royal College of GPs, added: "Whilst we understand the desire of some people to make vaccination mandatory, we don’t agree with it as informed and educated choices about health interventions would be more beneficial long-term than enforcing them, which risks leading to resentment and mistrust.

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"There are also workforce implications to consider at a time when we need as many people as possible working in general practice and across the health and care sectors delivering essential patient care and services."

A Department of Health and Social Care spokeswoman said: “We continue to encourage the small minority of NHS staff who have not yet been jabbed to consider getting vaccinated to protect both themselves and patients.”

At Sheffield Teaching Hospitals Trust the equivalent of 331,715 full-time staff days were lost due to sickness between March 2020 and May this year.

Of these, 53,128 (16%) were because of Covid-19.