London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Sep 18, 2025

NHS England could employ unvaccinated staff after 1 April, says regulator

NHS England could employ unvaccinated staff after 1 April, says regulator

Frontline staff who have not had jab may be able to work if dangerous understaffing deemed a greater risk
Hospitals in England could continue to employ unvaccinated NHS healthcare workers beyond the April deadline if not doing so risks leaving them dangerously understaffed, the sector regulator has indicated.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) said it would implement the government diktat for mandatory jabs “fairly and proportionately”, amid fears that it will exacerbate the NHS’s existing staff crisis.

Its comments were welcomed by hospital trusts, comingbefore Thursday’s deadline for all NHS staff in England who have direct contact with patients to have their first dose of a Covid vaccine, in order to complete the course before 1 April, or risk losing their job. About 80,000 frontline NHS workers have still not had a first dose and the NHS already has 93,000 vacancies, including 40,000 for nurses.

Ted Baker, CQC’s chief inspector of hospitals, said: “We will work with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) to ensure that this government legislation is implemented fairly and proportionately when it comes into effect.

“New regulations requiring registered healthcare providers to only deploy fully vaccinated staff in patient-facing roles do not supersede other regulatory requirements and hospital trusts may need to make difficult risk-based decisions in order to determine the safest possible approach in different circumstances.”

In comments to the Sunday Times, expanding on the CQC’s approach, Baker said: “We fully recognise there are concerns that the introduction of mandatory vaccination rules risks exacerbating existing staff shortages.”

Unions, including the Royal College of Nursing and the TUC, have called for mandatory jabs to be delayed, or even scrapped, voicing fears about the impact it will have on staffing levels. The government’s own impact assessment of its policy concluded that as many as 73,000 staff may leave rather than get jabbed, with women, people from ethnic minorities and younger workers among those most likely to quit or be forced out. There have also been demands by Tory backbenchers for the policy to be dropped.

There was a mixed reaction to the CQC’s comments. NHS Providers, which represents hospital trusts, welcomed them as reflecting its own concerns.

Saffron Cordery, deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, said: “NHS Providers has consistently flagged that there were always two risks to manage here – the risk of Covid cross-infection in healthcare settings and the consequences of losing staff if significant numbers refused to be vaccinated. The CQC is clearly also seeking to act proportionately in balancing these risks as it carries out its role.

“Trusts are working hard to increase the number of vaccinated staff and the numbers are rising with growing speed as we approach the deadline for the first vaccination to be completed.

“But we know there may be some services at risk if trusts need to redeploy or dismiss all unvaccinated staff when the April deadline is reached, as the current government regulations would require them to do. We still don’t know how serious or widespread this risk will be, but it is one that NHS leaders will clearly need to manage.”

But the UK’s largest health union, Unison, warned that the CQC’s comments only muddied the waters and suggested that the policy was unworkable.

Sara Gorton, Unison’s head of health, said: “This suggests a confusing element of discretion will now apply over what’s already distracting and unnecessary legislation. Allowing the rules to be set aside in certain cases creates a risk of unfair and potentially discriminatory treatment. If the CQC thinks the mandatory approach is incompatible with safe staffing, then the new law should simply be scrapped.”

A DHSC spokesperson said: “Health and social care workers look after the most vulnerable people in society and ensuring staff are vaccinated is the right thing to do to protect patients and those in care. We continue to work closely with trusts to encourage uptake of the vaccine – the vast majority of NHS staff have had the vaccine which is our best defence against Covid-19. As we have done throughout the pandemic, we keep all Covid-19 policies under review.”
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
US Tech Giants Pledge Billions to UK AI Infrastructure Following Starmer's Call
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
DeepMind and OpenAI Achieve Gold at ‘Coding Olympics’ in AI Milestone
SEC Allows Public Companies to Block Investors from Class-Action Lawsuits
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Federal Reserve Cuts Rates by Quarter Point and Signals More to Come
Effective and Impressive Generation Z Protest: Images from the Riots in Nepal
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Trump: Cancel quarterly company reports and settle for reporting once every six months
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
US Launches New Pilot Program to Accelerate eVTOL Air Taxi Deployment
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Hong Kong Industry Group Calls for HK$20 Billion Support Fund to Ease Property Market Stress
Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency Speaking Fees Face Weak Demand amid Corporate Reluctance
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
Kash Patel erupts at ‘buffoon’ Sen. Adam Schiff over Russiagate: ‘You are the biggest fraud’
Homeland Security says Emmy speech ‘fanning the flames of hatred’ after Einbinder’s ‘F— ICE’ remark
Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Tyler Robinson Faces Death Penalty as Charges Formally Announced
Actor, director, environmentalist Robert Redford dies at 89
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
JD Vance Says There Is “No Unity” with Those Who Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Killing, and he is right!
Trump sues the 'New York Times' for an astronomical sum of 15 billion dollars
Florida Hospital Welcomes Its Largest-Ever Baby: Annan, Nearly Fourteen Pounds at Birth
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
French Debt Downgrade Piles Pressure on Macron’s New Prime Minister
US and UK Near Tech, Nuclear and Whisky Deals Ahead of Trump Trip
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
Anesthesiologist Left Operation Mid-Surgery to Have Sex with Nurse
Tens of Thousands of Young Chinese Get Up Every Morning and Go to Work Where They Do Nothing
×