'Kick in the teeth' as health workers left in the dark over vaccine, says Sunderland NHS chief

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Care home residents and workers are due to be first in line for jabs as they are rolled out across the country, followed by the rest of the UK’s over-80s.

But according to Ken Bremner, chief executive at South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust, his own staff have no idea when they will be allocated a dose.

He said: “I haven’t got any date nor expectation at the moment on when any of our front facing staff in hospital, of which I’ve got 7,000, are going to receive this vaccination.

A needle is filled from a phial of Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle, on the first day of the largest immunisation programme in the UK's history. Care home workers, NHS staff and people aged 80 and over began receiving the jab on Tuesday December 8, 2020.

“Clearly there’s been an about face on this from the government in terms of pushing this out to care homes, which is fine, but it has left the NHS scratching its head.

“It’s slightly disappointing Sunderland and South Tyneside seem to have been bypassed with some of this.”

Bremner, who is responsible for Sunderland Royal Hospital and South Tyneside District Hospital, was speaking at a meeting of Sunderland City Council’s Health and Wellbeing Board, which was held by videolink and broadcast via YouTube.

The panel’s chairman, Cllr Geoff Walker, the city council’s cabinet member for Healthy City, backed the hospital boss, claiming the oversight had left Wearside and South Tyneside looking like the ‘poor relation’.

And Cllr Louise Farthing, cabinet member for Children, Education and Skills, went a step further, claiming front line NHS workers should have been first in the queue for a vaccine as they have ‘put their lives on the line’, during the pandemic.

Bremner added: “It feels like having to deal with the scraps which are left on the table.

“At the end of the day we will do what we can and that’s just where we are, but we will need to manage carefully the confidence and morale of our NHS staff.

“They have taken a battering for the last eight months – it feels a bit like a kick in the teeth.”

The first vaccines were administered in the UK on Tuesday, December 8, in what has been seen as a landmark moment for the fight against Covid-19.

But health chiefs, experts and politicians have warned households must stick to the rules and not let their guard down while infections remain high.

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