ABDO president, Jo Holmes, has described as disappointing the decision by NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHSE/I) not to extend complimentary flu vaccinations for primary care staff for the 2022/23 winter flu season.
NHSE/I stated: “As we move into the next phase of ‘Living with Covid-19’, the wider direction of travel is to return to sustainable public health measures.
“In keeping with this, the provision of seasonal flu vaccinations will return to being an employer’s responsibility as part of the organisation’s policy to prevent the transmission of infections for all frontline staff. The only exception will be health and social care staff employed by specific social care providers without access to employer led occupational health schemes.”
Commenting on the announcement, ABDO president, Jo Holmes, said: “This is very disappointing considering the optical profession are part of the primary care workforce, on the frontline delivering vital NHS eye health care.
“All vaccinations that can contribute to preventing staff and patients from contracting or transmitting disease whilst delivering and accessing health care should be made available to NHS workers by the NHS.
“We will pick this up with NHSE/I at our next meeting – with the hope that they will reconsider and provide a consistent approach towards all NHS workers going forward as they did with Covid-19,” Jo added.