Our NHS heroes are still fighting this virus. Those risking their lives deserve clarity and assurance that they really matter. How is it right that hundreds of staff — BAME included — working in A&E, as paramedics, porters and domestics, aren’t getting top priority and are having to ring around for spare doses? We cannot repeat the errors of the first wave when so many healthcare workers were lost in the line of duty.
Dr Duranka Perera, Treasurer, DAUK
Frontline NHS staff are being turned away from vaccination hubs amid reports that hospitals’ administrative staff are being prioritised over doctors, medical bodies have said.
The Doctors’ Association UK called for equal access to the coronavirus vaccine amid concerns that NHS doctors in high-risk roles, or those who are particularly vulnerable to the disease, are not on priority lists.
Over the weekend NHS administrative staff and those working in Boots pharmacies in northwest London were given the vaccine. On Monday frontline medical staff at St Bartholomew’s hospital in central London were told that they had not been assigned a vaccination hub. According to DAUK, those who tried to get vaccinated at nearby hospital trusts were turned away.
DAUK also wrote to Matt Hancock, the health secretary, over concerns that many frontline staff had not heard when they would be vaccinated. A poll by the group found that 70 per cent had no idea when they would be protected.It comes as hospital staff have reported being told to ring GPs to ask if they had unused supplies of the vaccine.
Duranka Perera, an A&E physician and the treasurer of DAUK, said: “Our NHS heroes are still fighting this virus. Those risking their lives deserve clarity and assurance that they really matter. How is it right that hundreds of staff — BAME included — working in A&E, as paramedics, porters and domestics, aren’t getting top priority and are having to ring around for spare doses? We cannot repeat the errors of the first wave when so many healthcare workers were lost in the line of duty.”
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