THE largest trade union representing healthcare workers in Northern Ireland has called on employers to find out the Covid vaccine status of frontline staff on a "voluntary" basis - in order to manage risk.
Unison official Anne Speed stressed that while they do not support mandatory vaccination, she understood the "anxiety" of patients who want to know if NHS employees treating them are double-jabbed.
Earlier this week Dr Tom Black of the British Medical Association (BMA) said he believed vulnerable cancer patients and those in ICU had a right to know if a health care professional was fully protected against the virus.
Health minister Robin Swann expressed his opposition to the move, saying he would not be "comfortable" with staff having to show proof they were jabbed.
As winter pressures and A&E delays mount, Ms Speed said it fell to the north's health trusts to ascertain the level of vaccination uptake among its frontline - as this data is not coded centrally.
"I think there is an obligation on the health service to listen to the patient, there is an obligation on the service to request voluntary information and there is an obligation then to manage that risk - but that does not amount to compulsion," she said.
"It amounts to using communication to manage risk for both patient and staff.
"I understand the anxiety of the patients and their concerns but you have to balance the rights of the workers and there is no legal requirement on any worker to get vaccinated.
"...But I do think it is possible to manage this. The employer can seek voluntary information. I suspect they will have a good positive response from the workforce to share that information.
"If a patient wants to ask the question of the health service and express a preference, then the health service obviously has to take into account the patient’s anxiety and need.
"I think nine times out of ten this can be managed along the protocol system by voluntary co-operation."
Last month, The Irish News revealed that as few as 60 per cent of nurses in the Belfast trust were vaccinated against Covid by late June compared with more than 90 per cent of doctors and 80 per cent of administration staff.
The trust said the information - which was obtained through a Freedom of Information (FoI) request - was incomplete as staff may have received jabs elsewhere, but were unable to provide figures.
Meanwhile, the Western trust has admitted that it's data on staff vaccination uptakes is "inaccurate" after a FoI disclosed that just 60 per cent of doctors and 59 per cent of nurses were double jabbed by June.
The Royal of Nursing (RCN) trade union, which represents the majority of nurses in the north, was also asked if they supported calls for patients to ask if staff were vaccinated.
Dolores McCormick, RCN associate director, said: "The RCN believes, and it is set out widely within the Nursing and Midwifery Council code, that nursing staff should take measures to protect their patients and the public as a professional responsibility.
“That is why the majority of health and care staff have already chosen to receive the Covid-19 vaccine.
“However, making the vaccine mandatory may risk exacerbating divisions where there should be a focus on conversation and education."
