NHS England chiefs have demanded ‘urgent action’ from hospitals warning over patient deaths after staff uptake of flu jabs has halved since pandemic.
In a letter written to hospital bosses titled “for urgent action”, health service executives have warned: “Last winter in England, there were 7,757 deaths from flu with 340,000 bed days taken up by flu patients. The vaccine is estimated to have prevented between 96,000 and 120,200 people from being hospitalised.
“Yet the uptake of staff vaccination has declined steadily year on year – falling from 74 per cent in 2019/20 to just 37.8 per cent in 2024/25.”
The number of deaths in winter 2024, 7,757, was double that compared to the winter prior, when 3,555 deaths were recorded. However, in winter 2022-23, flu related deaths hit 15,967 – the highest since 2014-15.
NHS figures show the uptake across hospitals and GP practices dropped by 5.4 per cent compared with the previous season, when 43.1 per cent of staff were jabbed.
The last time uptake of the flu vaccination among frontline NHS staff dropped below 40 per cent was in 2010-11.
In the letter, sent on Thursday, NHS England executives told hospitals and primary care chiefs: “Low uptake is neither inevitable nor irreversible. Last year, our best performing trusts vaccinated about two thirds of their staff, compared to around 1 in 8 in those with the lowest rates of vaccination.”
It said all hospitals should aim to increase uptake by five percentage points compared to last year and said uptake will be monitored for each trust.
The letter adds that every trust should have an executive responsible for this area and that jabs should be made available by 1 October.
Following guidances from the government’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, Covid-19, will not be included in the NHS staff vaccination plan, and all efforts will be focussed on flu, NHS England said.
Data shows the NHS sector with the lowest uptake of flu jabs in 2024-25 was mental health trusts, with just 33 per cent getting a vaccination. However, the figure for staff working for independent sector providers was even lower, with just 13 per cent recorded to have been vaccinated. The sector with the highest uptake was GP practices.
The warning over the decline in flu vaccination among NHS staff comes amid wider concern over uptake by the general public, in particular of childhood vaccinations.
According to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), none of the main childhood vaccines met the target needed this year to ensure diseases cannot spread, with one in five children starting primary school without protection against a number of serious conditions.
Meanwhile, new data from the UKHSA revealed one infant death from whooping cough occurred earlier this year. The data prompted warnings over uptake of the jab among pregnant women.
