Hi Stephanie,

Legally we cannot ask for volunteers' COVID-19 vaccination status any longer, and earlier in the year our Trust also had to delete all prior data that we held on this. Same goes for NHS Staff.

The legal basis for Trusts to hold staff / volunteer COVID-19 vaccination status is covered under the Control of Patient Information Regulations 2002 (COPI) notice for Covid. From Thursday 30 June 2022, the COPI notice expired and therefore the legal basis for retaining staff/volunteer COVID-19 vaccination status also expired.

I hope this helps!

Catherine

Thank you Catherine really helpful.

Hi Stephanie,

No in short they don't need to be vaccinated. As Covid Vaccines and Flu Vaccines aren't mandatory for NHS staff, our volunteers aren't being told to have one but if they want one they would be offered/asked/supported to if they do. As far as I'm aware the Volunteers discuss their needs in their Occupational Health review which includes vaccinations and if the volunteer wants a vaccine Occupational Health would discuss this with them as they do for staff, these vaccines wouldn't be mandatory for volunteers in patient facing roles.

All info on vaccinations gets sent out to all trust staff by email, in bulletins and on the intranet and Volunteers, as with staff, they would then opt in if they want one.

Flu jabs are usually offered on site on specific days and all staff (including the volunteers) will be made aware of these to opt in and attend if they want to.