Private healthcare providers in England will need to start firing or reassigning unvaccinated workers from early next month.
A guidance document released by the NHS England late last week revealed that the last date upon which unvaccinated workers, who are not exempt, must receive an authorised Covid-19 vaccine is 3 February ahead of compulsory vaccination requirements for healthcare workers coming into force on 1 April.
The rules apply to health and social care workers who have direct, face-to-face contact with people while providing care – such as doctors, nurses, dentists and domiciliary care workers, unless they are exempt.
They cover the whole Care Quality Commission-regulated health and social care sector including private hospitals.
Commenting on what the guidance means for private healthcare providers, Melanie Stancliffe, partner at Cripps Pemberton Greenish, told Health & Protection they now need to start reviewing the roles that fall within the new legal requirement and identify the staff that will need to be vaccinated to perform their role, unless they are exempt.
“They need to collate that data, which is permitted without express consent being needed, and consider whether they can reconfigure roles and encourage further vaccinations,” she said.
“The guidance confirms that consulting with trade unions isn’t required. Instead employers will need a consultation with the employees who are not vaccinated and hold a formal meeting with them about their potential dismissal because they will not from 1 April be fully vaccinated.”
Stancliffe added that while under the guidance employers are encouraged to redeploy staff, this is not a legal requirement and would not make a dismissal for this reason unfair.
“Employers cannot give notice to terminate employment until 1 April but they need to bear in mind that staff need to have been vaccinated on or before 3 February in order to be fully vaccinated by 1 April,” she continued.
“Employees who are terminated will need to be paid their notice pay and for any unused holiday but they are not entitled to redundancy pay.”
In November of last year, health secretary Sajid Javid announced frontline healthcare workers must be fully vaccinated by the spring.