Covid vaccines are not compulsory for NHS staff in Wales but are being mandated in England.
Image source, PA Media
First Minister Mark Drakeford would “not rule out” recruiting NHS workers from England who leave their jobs due to its mandatory vaccination policy.
It comes as the Royal College of GPs said the deadline for health workers in England to have a Covid jab should be delayed to prevent staff shortages.
Vaccines are not compulsory for NHS staff in Wales.
Mr Drakeford said a “vast majority” of care sector staff had also taken the “protections that vaccination offers”.
When asked if he would take on NHS staff from England, Mr Drakeford told BBC Radio 4’s Broadcasting House: “We wouldn’t rule it out but it would depend on what anybody said in an interview when they were applying for a job.
“We’re not going to make vaccinations mandatory in our NHS,” he said.
“We haven’t in our social care services because we have succeeded by persuasion by getting the vast majority of people who work in our services to do the right thing and take up the protections that vaccination offers.”
NHS England staff must have a first jab by 3 February and be fully vaccinated by 1 April to continue in frontline roles.
The UK’s Department of Health said there were no plans to delay and it was “the right thing to do to protect patients”.
Mr Drakeford said: “I don’t expect us to go looking for people who have not been vaccinated but, if people apply, then they would be interviewed in the normal way.
“We’d look to see what lay behind their decision.
“We wouldn’t rule them out but we certainly won’t be going out there looking for them.”