Record low number of frontline NHS staff receive flu jabs this winter as some areas see less than one in 10 vaccinated

EMBARGO: Immediate release

A record low of 37% of frontline health service staff took up flu jabs this winter, with some areas seeing less than one in 10 receive the vaccine. This came as hospitals battled a surge in those admitted due to the disease, House of Commons Library research commissioned by the Liberal Democrats has revealed.

The data revealed that the proportion of healthcare workers that had received a flu vaccine this winter fell from 64% in 2016/17, when data was first collected, to just 37% this winter. That is a record low and a fall of 26.7 percentage points. There has been a marked fall in vaccine uptake from the peak of 2020/21 where it hit 76%.

The levels of flu vaccine uptake varied hugely between NHS Trusts. The lowest uptake in the country was at Camden and Islington NHS Trust, where just 8.8% of all healthcare workers had received a jab. This was followed by Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health Trust on 9.5% and then Central and North West London Trust on 15.5%. In total, 62 of the 184 NHS Trusts which had reported data for this winter saw less than a third of their staff take-up the flu vaccine.

There have been some drastic falls in some NHS Trusts in the number of staff taking up the vaccines. In Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust, there was a fall of 60.5 percentage points in the proportion of staff who received the flu vaccine this winter compared with 2016/17, with just 15.7% of staff now vaccinated. At Lewisham and Greenwich there was a 59.5 percentage point fall and at Birmingham Women and Children’s Hospital it was 59.2 percentage points.

Since 2016/17 the number of healthcare workers with direct patient care has grown by more than 350,000 to close to 950,000, a jump of 45%. Despite the rise of those in these frontline roles, the number of staff who have taken up the flu vaccine this winter fell on 2016/17’s number of 496,000 by 76,000 to 420,000 this winter, a fall of 15.3%.

It comes as this winter, a record number of hospital bed days were needed for patients with flu – over 315,000 compared with around 174,000 in 2023/24 and around 211,000 in 2022/23. This contributed to bed occupancy rates hitting 96% at points this winter, causing a backlog in A&Es, with people forced to endure ‘trolley waits’ whilst waiting to be admitted. A safe bed occupancy rate is considered to be 85%.

Previous analysis by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine found that by the time a patient reaches a stay of more than 12 hours in an Emergency Department, they are twice as likely to die within 30 days as those treated, admitted or discharged within two hours. The RCEM calculated that there were almost 14,000 deaths associated with long A&E stays before admission in 2023.

These pressures across hospitals led to some harrowing stories with the NHS saying that flu had contributed to the risk of a ‘quad-emic’ this winter as hospitals come under immense strain. There have been cases of patients dying in corridors and glorified cupboards with some NHS Trusts even advertising positions for ‘corridor care nurses’ to work shifts in their corridors and provide care there.

The Liberal Democrats have called for the Government to increase awareness amongst healthcare workers about flu vaccinations by coordinating a campaign across the health service.

Liberal Democrat Health and Social Care spokesperson, Helen Morgan MP said:

“Many A&Es resembled a war-zone at times during the winter. People were waiting in intolerable pain, treated in corridors and dying in glorified cupboards. The system is broken from top to bottom, with hospitals unable to move people into the community because of a lack of care provision, leading to deadly backlogs in our hospitals.

“The surge in those staying in hospital because they had flu, leading to fewer beds for those coming into A&E was a major problem contributing to these awful scenes.

“That’s why it is absolutely vital that the Government boosts vaccine uptake through a coordinated awareness campaign across the health service, ensuring that staff are properly supported as they continue to do life-saving work for our NHS.”

ENDS

Notes to Editor: 

The House of Commons Library research can be found here. (The attached file contains data from 2016/17 onwards  - earlier years are not readily available).

Health Foundation analysis of the number of flu bed days can be found here.

Bed occupancy rates this winter can be found here. A safe bed occupancy rate of 85% can be found here.

Royal College of Emergency Medicine research on the number of deaths due to A&E waits can be found here.

NHS comments on a ‘quad-emic’ can be found here.

Case studies of patient care this winter can be found here and here.

NHS Trusts advertising for ‘corridor care nurses’ can be found here.