STAFF at York Hospital have been offered free meals if they have a flu vaccination.

If more than three-quarters of staff take up the vaccination offer in coming months, York Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust will receive £250,000 from the NHS, and free meal vouchers have been offered as incentives to workers.

A letter to staff said: “You have a pivotal role in helping to prevent the spread of influenza throughout the winter months. By protecting ourselves against flu we can demonstrate our commitment to promoting wellbeing and preventing ill health.

"This year the Trust is prioritising the flu vaccine to all frontline healthcare workers. This means that clinics will be ring fenced, arranged to minimise disruption to services and staff, and delivered at the optimum time within the season to maximise protection against the virus. All vaccinated staff will receive a voucher for a free meal from any of the Trust’s catering outlets.”

York Press:

A hospital spokeswoman said research showed up to one in four healthcare workers could become infected with flu “during a mild influenza season”, which is a higher rate than the general population.

Polly McMeekin, deputy director of workforce for the trust, said flu was “an unpredictable virus”, and it was the Trust’s responsibility “to ensure the flu vaccine is freely available to all frontline healthcare workers”.

She said: “Healthcare workers have a duty of care to protect themselves, their patients and service users from infection.

“Annually the flu vaccine programme is a critical element of our approach in terms of managing winter pressures. It helps to reduce unplanned admissions within the local community and pressures on our Emergency Department. Protection against flu helps reduce sickness absence levels in staff so that services are able to continue operating throughout the winter period.”

The hospital spokeswoman said: “To help protect patients, colleagues, family and friends it’s important that healthcare workers are vaccinated against flu. The flu vaccine is still the best protection we have against an unpredictable virus that can cause serious illness and death.

“Nationally, a proportion of healthcare providers’ income is conditional on demonstrating certain improvements in quality and innovation in specified areas of patient care. Flu vaccination is one of those so we need to get over 75 per cent of front line staff vaccinated. If we have fewer than 64 per cent of frontline staff vaccinated funds will not be allocated. It’s worth £250,000 if we achieve 75 to 100 per cent of frontline staff vaccinated. This is a national scheme and therefore applies to all Trusts.”