Patients at risk from medics who refuse flu inoculation

Pregnant and elderly patients are at risk of ill health because the vast majority of hospital and nursing home staff are failing to get the flu jab.

New figures from the HSE’s Health Protection Surveillance Centre show, despite the genuine danger of the virus to frail patients, most medics are still choosing not to be inoculated. According to the official statistics, based on responses from 45 acute hospitals and 183 facilities such as nursing homes, last winter just 17.4% of hospital staff and 15% of workers in long-term care facilities received the flu jab, from 18% last year.

The hospital and nursing home sectors with the highest uptake rate were medical/dental workers (23.5%) and management (22.6%). However, nurses (12.5%) and health and social care professionals (11.6%) fell far behind, despite the fact that these individuals work closely with vulnerable patients.