In a statement to Parliament yesterday evening, the Health Secretary Sajid Javid confirmed the launch of a consultation on ending Vaccination as a Condition of Deployment (VCOD) in health and all social care settings.
“Subject to the responses - and the will of this House - the Government will revoke the regulations,” he stated, adding that should there be another dramatic change in the virus, it would be responsible to review the policy again.
Mr Javid emphasised that vaccination remains “our very best line of defence against COVID-19,” and that “everyone working in health and social care has a professional duty to be vaccinated against COVID-19.”
The reasoning given for this change in policy relates to the fact that the Omicron variant, whilst being more transmissible, results in less severe disease than the Delta variant, which was the predominant strain when the policy was announced. In addition, the high level of take-up of the vaccination amongst the general public means the population has greater protection. Taken together, this means “the risk of presentation to emergency care or hospital admission with Omicron is approximately half of that for Delta.”
The Health Secretary confirmed three immediate steps:
• He has written to the professional regulators to ask them to urgently review current guidance on registrants on vaccinations, including COVID-19, to emphasise their professional responsibilities in this area.
• The NHS has been asked to review its policies on hiring new staff and the deployment of existing staff to take their vaccination status into account.
• Officials have been asked to consult on updating the department’s Code of Practice which applies to all CQC registered providers of all healthcare and social care in England, to include strengthening requirements in relation to COVID-19 including reflecting the latest advice on infection prevention and control.
Mr Javid further confirmed that work to promote the uptake of the vaccine will continue.
The response to this announcement has been mixed. NHS Trusts have already spent significant time and resource in preparing for the arrival of the new requirements ahead of the deadline of April 1, 2022. Adding to the burden of interviewing staff, organising redeployment or termination of employment, HEFMA has also heard reports that records of unvaccinated staff were often found to be inaccurate.
In a joint statement, the Chief Executives of NHS Confederation and NHS Providers, Matthew Taylor and Chris Hopson said the policy change will cause frustration, adding that most providers supported the introduction of the mandate but would have preferred more time to implement the policy.
“We have always been clear that encouraging as many NHS staff as possible to get vaccinated was the right approach for staff, their colleagues, and, most importantly, for patients. The evidence is clear that vaccines are highly effective against infection, transmission, hospitalisation and mortality,” they state.
"NHS leaders are frustrated to have such a significant change in policy at the 11th hour given all the hard and complex work that has gone into meeting the deadline set by the government. They recognise the reasons the government has given for the changes – the risk to services and the different risk from Omicron compared to previous variants. But there will be concern at what this means for wider messaging about the importance of vaccination for the population as a whole. We must also be mindful of the frustration this late change will have caused for some staff and the government must ensure clear guidance is quickly made available to support managers to implement this change in approach.
"Finally, we are also conscious of the impact this will have on our colleagues working in social care. A large number of staff left their roles when mandatory vaccination became law in the social care sector last autumn. This U-turn will therefore cause similar frustration in social care given the disruption to service delivery that resulted from loss of staff last November."
UNISON’s General Secretary, Christina McAnea welcomed the change of policy, saying it “was the right thing to do,” but supported the view that the repercussions could have wider implications across the health and social care sector, adding “it shouldn’t have taken the government so long to realise the huge mistake it was making.”
Ministers, she said, chose not to listen to warnings of the “staffing chaos” the policy would bring to the NHS and the care sector.
“Thousands of care workers have been forced from the jobs they love, leaving employers struggling. Many staff will also have quit the NHS ahead of this week’s deadline.
“These ill-thought-out rules have worsened the staffing crisis hampering the NHS and social care and caused significant upset. Huge amounts of time and resources, which employers could have spent persuading staff to get vaccinated and on patient care, have been wasted.
“Playing politics with the vaccine risks undermining confidence in this important safety measure. It will now be harder for employers to persuade staff to get jabbed and the unvaccinated public will be less likely to come forward.”
