Disturbingly high number of unvaccinated hospital workers in Sydney

A disturbingly high number of Sydney frontline workers who are not vaccinated is forcing hospitals to find ways to keep them away from high-risk patients.

Hospitals are scrambling to keep unvaccinated staff away from high-risk patients.

An internal memo circulated at one southwestern Sydney hospital last week put the figure of “unjabbed” frontline staff at “35 per cent”.

A redeployment strategy is under way with hospitals ­ordered to “where possible” ­relocate unvaccinated public health staff away from emergency departments – in particular “hot” or “red” zones where patients are likely to have Covid-19 – as well as ­intensive care units, Covid-19 wards and respiratory wards.

There is still a large number of frontline hospital workers who are not vaccinated. Picture: Kena Betancur/AFP

And, with student nurses still turning up to work unvaccinated, NSW Health has also foreshadowed potentially pausing clinical nurse placements “given the seriousness of the Delta variant”.

Frontline healthcare workers were among the first to be eligible for a vaccine in February as part of the phase 1A rollout group.

As part of the phase 1B priority group, students on clinical placement were eligible for vaccines in March.

However, staff working in the emergency department of a hospital within the South Western Sydney Local Health District said many staff and students on clinical placements were still unvaccinated.

A memo to staff revealed an audit would be taking place to “independently collate staff members’ vaccination status” in light of the latest outbreak.

While NSW Health officials will not publicly reveal how many of its frontline staff are vaccinated, the memo suggested as many as one-third within one hospital emergency department were yet to receive full coverage.

“Only as many 65 per cent may have received the two doses of vaccination,” the memo said.

One staff member said ­students on clinical placements appeared to have been overlooked, with five turning up to work at an emergency department in the past two weeks still unvaccinated.

This was despite a student nurse on a clinical placement shutting down two wards at Fairfield Hospital after testing positive.

The University of Technology nursing student had also worked at Royal North Shore Hospital.

While vaccination is not mandatory, NSW Health has put processes in place for students to have their shots while undertaking their clinical placements.

A NSW Health spokesman said discussions had taken place with university deans of health, nursing and midwifery and medicine “about the necessity of student vaccinations”.

“Given the seriousness of the Delta variant, NSW Health may need to make decisions to pause placements for a limited period in certain facilities on a case-by-case basis,” the spokesman said.

A SWSLHD spokesman said the local area had been a “priority hub” for vaccination with “frontline staff the first to be offered immunisation”.