King’s College Hospital chief warns he could lose up to 1,000 of his care staff if vaccines become compulsory in NHS

A hospital could lose up to a thousand staff if they refuse to have the Covid-19 vaccine before rules on compulsory jabs for NHS workers come in, its head warned.

Clive Kay, the chief executive of King’s College Hospital (KCH), said he was “worried” that 10 per cent of the 14,000 hospital staff had not received their first dose.

Those who are not vaccinated risk losing their jobs if they cannot be moved to work in non-treatment roless, he said.

He said his job was to “encourage staff to get vaccinated” after Sajid Javid was questioned by Steve James, a consultant anaesthetist on the ICU ward, during a visit to the hospital on Thursday.

The consultant told the Health Secretary he disagreed with the government’s decision to make vaccinations mandatory for NHS hospital workers, saying the science was not strong enough to support the move.

Dr Kay refused to comment on “individual cases” but said it was a “moot point” whether or not the measures were fair, as they were now matters of law.

Senior staff at KCH are now ramping up efforts to encourage hospital workers to get jabbed as the deadline for them to receive a first dose approaches, he said.

In December, MPs approved mandatory vaccinations for NHS and social care staff by April this year.

Dr Kay said: “The law is now such that individuals who are not vaccinated, if they can’t be redeployed, will not be able to work in hospitals if they deal with patients.

“We’re having conversations with staff, their line managers are having conversations, we have a helpline where colleagues seek clarification and help.”

More than 1,000 members of staff could be lost in an “extreme” scenario unless vaccine uptake within the workforce improves, Dr Kay said.

He added: “Yes, of course [I’m worried]. I think my job is to worry, my job is to worry about everything in relation to whether or not we have enough staff here to provide care for patients and will continue to do so, and we will provide care for patients but ultimately if individuals choose not to (it’s) their choice.”

Dr James told the PA news agency that he did not believe Covid was causing “very significant problems” for young people.

He added that his patients in the ICU had been “extremely overweight” with multiple other co-morbidities.

“I wouldn’t say he agreed with me,” he said. “I had the feeling he was listening.”