UK hospitals may close if health workers refuse to get vaccinated: NHS leader

A leader of UK's National Health Service (NHS) has said that hospital units in England faced potential closure due to staff quitting in protest of government compulsion for health workers to be vaccinated against Covid.

Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers has cited example of a hospital run by a trust.

In this hospital, 40 midwives have refused to get vaccinated. This has raised fears that the maternity unit would have to be closed.

The mandate for health workers to get vaccinated comes into effect in April.

Hopson did not name the hospital in which the midwives are refusing to get vaccinated. He presented this as a representative example. 

He said that if the trend spreads, it will 'lead to patient services being put at risk'. He was quoted by The Guardian.

UK's Health Secretary Sajid Javid recently told House of Commons the number of NHS staff who are unvaccinated.

“despite the incredible effort to boost uptake across the country, there are still approximately 94,000 NHS staff who are unvaccinated. It’s critical to patient safety that health and care staff get the jab,” he said.