Former NHS chief 'gives up' on radio interview

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Nick Ferrari was questioning how the NHS will avoid having to fire staff refusing to take up the offer to get both their coronavirus vaccine doses. Former NHS Trust Chairman Roy Lilley suggested the organisation could relocate workers to other tasks away from the public, a suggestion Mr Ferrari met with some ridicule. The LBC host said: “With respect, Mr Lilley, we move them away from frontline duty.

“How big is the NHS you just move staff around and, I have to put it to you, just hide them somewhere.”

He continued: “Move them away from the frontline, who’s doing the job?

“Ok, I’m a frontline worker, I refuse to have the jab but don’t worry, I’m going to be moved away from the frontline. What are you going to do with me?”

Mr Lilley insisted staff would not be “hidden away” but could be offered another position: “I can move you into outpatient appointments, by phone. To countering roles, I can move you to administration.”

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But Mr Ferrari immediately cast doubt on the proposal, hitting back: “I have no skill like that.

“It’s a fantastic old place the NHS – you’ve just got tears of jobs you can just pop people in. Fantastic! Why have we given it more money?”

The response resulted in Mr Lilley opting to end the conversation, saying: “I give up, Nick.”

The LBC presenter thanked the former NHS Chairman for his contribution before once again questioning the NHS strategy for unvaccinated staff.

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Mr Ferrari continued: “Ok, fair enough Roy, thank you.

“Roy Lilley is former NHS Chairman and commentator who’s just given up because there’s no other job in the world, Mr Lilley, where you can say, ‘we’ll just move…Nick doesn’t want to do what? Oh, don’t worry, we’ll put him in there.’

“And we’ve just given them £3bn. I love the NHS, I got my jab with the NHS, the NHS has not quite saved my life but certainly helped out, my children were born on the NHS, my grandchildren.

“I love the NHS but I also love fiscal reality and this is an organisation…we’ll just move them to another job.”

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While jabs for NHS staff is not mandatory at the moment, Health Secretary Sajid Javid is now believed to be considering a change to the policy to ensure all NHS workers are covered by the vaccine.

Mr Javid admitted last week he was “leaning towards” making the jab compulsory after it emerged approximately 100,000 NHS workers are not currently vaccinated.

An announcement on the change could come as early as Thursday and could mean the vaccine becomes compulsory from next spring.

NHS Providers chief executive Chris Hopson told BBC Breakfast delaying any move to compulsory jabbing would ensure the NHS is able to face what is shaping up to be a “difficult winter.”

Mr Hopson told BBC Breakfast: “If we lose very large numbers of unvaccinated staff, particularly over the winter period, then that also constitutes a risk to patient safety and quality of care.”

“We know – and the chief medical officer has said this really clearly – that we’ve got a very, very difficult winter coming up and we know the NHS is going to be absolutely at full stretch.

“So it makes sense to set the deadline once that winter period has passed.

“We know that January, February, often early March is very busy, so that’s why we’re saying today that we think an April 2022 deadline is a sensible time.”

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