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Coronavirus staff guidance University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust

Updates

Update, 1 February

Published: 01 February 2022

Time: 16:00

Dear colleagues,

As you may already be aware, the Government has announced that it is consulting on changes to the legislation that would have made COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory from Friday 1 April 2022. This applied to the majority of our staff who were in scope of the mandate, due to the nature of their role or their work environment. The Government’s decision is now subject to the Parliamentary process, and will require further consultation, including a vote, in order for it to be passed into legislation.

As the legislation is now under review, we have been specifically asked to not serve notice to end the employment of unvaccinated staff. This means that those staff who are unvaccinated that we had written to, advising them that if they had not had their first dose by Thursday 3 February 2022, that we would need to meet formally to discuss whether or not we could continue to employ them, will now not be required to have that meeting.

We do, however, need to continue to support staff to confirm their vaccination status, where we have no record of that, and we will continue to hold supportive conversations to encourage vaccination uptake. Those requirements on us as an employer have not changed.

The Government consultation and national discussions still need to provide further detail around this change in policy. We know that the current review underway by the Secretary of State includes asking regulators to review their guidance on vaccination expectations around professional duty of registered practitioners, and also the responsibility of registered providers. This may bring further updates for individuals, as well as for the Trust. We will keep you updated.

The Trust has worked diligently and carefully to understand who is still unvaccinated, to understand their reasons, and to provide education and support to those colleagues. We would like to thank everyone who has taken up the offer of a COVID-19 vaccination, along with all those who have supported them to do so. Huge effort has been put into increasing the already high take-up among our staff. This is very much appreciated. Vaccination is the best way to protect yourself, your family, your colleagues and, of course, our patients from the virus.

Best wishes,

Cathi Shovlin
Chief People Officer

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