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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask Health care staff treating me if they've had their covid vaccine?

366 replies

BearEastie · 28/02/2021 11:17

I am immunosuppressed. I've been vaccinated but they don't know how well it will work yet.

I would prefer to only be treated by staff who had been vaccinated, thus if they said no I would ask for limited contact or a swap in nursing etc.

Just read shocking statistics from the hospital I am due to go to next month for a two week stay and I am starting to freak out just a little bit.

OP posts:
GrettaGreen · 28/02/2021 16:01

If you're in front of them to ask if they've had the vaccine, then in the time you'll have spent telling them why they're not allowed to treat you, you'd have had the jab so overall your risk of being exposed to Covid would actually be the exact same if not higher without making a fuss.

MakeMineALarge1 · 28/02/2021 16:02

I am not sure I would tell you if I had or hadn't had my vaccine.
Would you ask me if I had my flu vaccine?

Original poster
BearEastie · 28/02/2021 16:02

@GrettaGreen read the thread, it's not about me having my jab - I've already had that. it's about a two week hospital stay as an inpatient.

OP posts:
Moondust001 · 28/02/2021 16:03

she's very naturally worrying about whether or not the hospital are going to take all reasonable steps to keep her safe from the potentially deadly virus during her upcoming hospital stay.

No - they (including medical staff) are taking offence at the fact that she thinks a hospital isn't taking all reasonable steps to keep her safe from ALL the potentially deadly viruses out there. There have been, and still are, far scarier viruses in UK hospitals. If she genuinely thinks that the hospital have not taken every reasonable step to care for her then she shouldn't be going to that hospital at all. At any time. Unvaccinated staff do not constitute any greater risk of transmission of any of the many "available" viruses because they practice infection controls. And if those controls aren't there, that has nothing at all to do with whether the staff are vaccinated or not - it is a failure on the part of the hospitals infection controls. If she wants to ask about those, then fine. She might want to also check out:

  • Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)
  • Clostridium difficile (C.Diff)
  • Vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE)
  • Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) and Carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae (CRKP)
-Necrotizing fasciitis, the flesh-eating bacterial disease

All of which are deadly and have been present / may be present in UK hospitals. Then there's flu, the common cold (hundreds if viruses there), and all the other viruses and bacteria. Covid is not the only thing out there. If the infection controls are poor then any of those things will get in and can kill. That is what infection control is for.

Original poster
BearEastie · 28/02/2021 16:03

@MakeMineALarge1

I think I would if I knew there was a bad flu outbreak locally at the time I was spending two weeks in hospital. All other times I've just gone on the lanyards / badges but this thread has taught me that's not actually a sensible way to approach this.

OP posts:
CoffeeRunner · 28/02/2021 16:03

@BearEastie

You openly paralleled those groups to unvaccinated people.

I do have a choice, and I do have a right to request I am treated by staff who do not put me at risk. Like everyone else entitled to NHS care.

You have a right to ask.

Whether it will be possible to provide you with what you want is something else.

Maybe you’re being admitted to a unit with plenty of staff available.

Kazzyhoward · 28/02/2021 16:03

Best you can do is to tell the nurses/carers etc to change their gloves and anti-bac equipment before they do anything to you. My OH has to do that at the cancer day treatment unit when he has his infusions. Some of the nurses huff and puff, but it YOUR health that matters, not a minor inconvenience to them.

fairgame84 · 28/02/2021 16:05

YABU

I've had my vaccine but I wouldn't be happy about being asked and I would tell you that it's confidential. Just like I wouldn't disclose if I've had my flu jab or mmr.

Original poster
BearEastie · 28/02/2021 16:05

@Moondust001 The very nature that unvaccinated staff may be treating immunocompromised patients means that not all reasonable steps have been taken to protect patients, actually. Particularly when you hear about how other trusts are managing the situation and keeping their patients safe.

If I work, I have to work safely for all of those around me. It's actually enshrined in law - it does apply to the NHS too (both employees and patients).

OP posts:
lightand · 28/02/2021 16:09

[quote BearEastie]@GrettaGreen read the thread, it's not about me having my jab - I've already had that. it's about a two week hospital stay as an inpatient.[/quote]
I dont think anyone has mentioned other patients yet.
I dont know what protocols there are now as regards other patients.

Moondust001 · 28/02/2021 16:12

[quote BearEastie]@Moondust001 The very nature that unvaccinated staff may be treating immunocompromised patients means that not all reasonable steps have been taken to protect patients, actually. Particularly when you hear about how other trusts are managing the situation and keeping their patients safe.

If I work, I have to work safely for all of those around me. It's actually enshrined in law - it does apply to the NHS too (both employees and patients).[/quote]
You don't get it do you? most of those things that I listed can't be vaccinated against. You are focusing on one risk when the issue is whether all risk is managed. If it is then the vaccination status of staff doesn't matter, because there should be no risk, or minimal risk, from anything. Most of the stuff that you are at great risk from you can't be vaccinated against. But I give up. Good luck with your treatment. If you get it at all.

Original poster
BearEastie · 28/02/2021 16:14

@Moondust001 I do get it because I've actually had one of those things on your list.

With some of the things on the list there are ways to reduce risk - of course no doctor is going to say "hey I think you may have X, I'm just going to fiddle around for a while and see if it gets sorted" are they? No, they are going to start treatment as early and as efficiently as possible to minimise the risk.

However, vaccination reduces risk - I will never have zero risk, but I do want to make damn sure I reduce risk as much as possible.

It's actually you who doesn't get it (which is worrying if you work in health care).

OP posts:
Original poster
BearEastie · 28/02/2021 16:15

@lightand I know that in Green Zones where I am going they are two metres away from each other. So an 8 bed ward is now a 6 bed ward for example.

OP posts:
LadyPenelope68 · 28/02/2021 16:16

YABVVU. An individual’s medical history is none of your business. You don’t get to pick who looks after/treats you. If you want to pick and choose, go privately.

updownroundandround · 28/02/2021 16:17

''I do have a choice, and I do have a right to request I am treated by staff who do not put me at risk. Like everyone else entitled to NHS care.''

Who are you planning to ask ? Who do you think has the 'authority' to ask staff to give them private medical information ?? No-one does !!

Can you not see that you cannot have your 'request' met ?? it's impossible, because no-one has the right to ask anyone about their vaccine status !

You're so full of what you think your rights are, that you totally disregard other peoples rights to medical privacy just to satisfy your own Confused

Flapjak · 28/02/2021 16:17

I think its inappropriate to ask people individually. You have no right to ask that personal information. I think you need to contact the admitting ward prior to discussing rather than putting individuals on the spot.

Original poster
BearEastie · 28/02/2021 16:19

@updownroundandround like i said up thread (with the example by the poster) I would have to rely on them telling me - either through chit chat or if I asked.

If they don't want to tell me, that's fine - but I still get to chose to be treated by someone else.

You don't seem to realise that patients do have choices they can make when you are treating them.

Man, this is actually terrifying that staff don't realise that.

@Flapjak Yes, that's what i am going to do - contact beforehand and express my wishes and see what the response is. I am pretty sure they will be understanding of them. There's lots of examples where people don't want to be treated by certain medical professionals for various reasons.

OP posts:
LadyPenelope68 · 28/02/2021 16:20

You are extremely self-entitled and this attitude is very clear throughout your posts on this thread.

multiplemum3 · 28/02/2021 16:21

You have no right to anyones medical information. I work in the NHS and my manager has no clue of I've had the vaccine or not, there isn't enough staff for you to pick and choose who treats you at the moment.

Original poster
BearEastie · 28/02/2021 16:21

@LadyPenelope68 You are entitled to your own opinion about someone you've never met, naturally.

Doesn't remove my right to chose who does and does not provide treatment for me to minimise risk to myself, I'm afraid.

OP posts:
lightand · 28/02/2021 16:22

[quote BearEastie]@lightand I know that in Green Zones where I am going they are two metres away from each other. So an 8 bed ward is now a 6 bed ward for example.[/quote]
Yes, but from rl and MN! I know that people walk around in wards. And people with dementia etc, dont just walk around their own wards.
Dont want to alarm you, but not all patients just lie in bed all day.

wellhellohi · 28/02/2021 16:22

Are you willing to accept that you may not receive treatment if you are unwilling to be treated by someone who has not had or unwilling to tell you their vaccination status?

You have no right to know peoples medical history. Staff will be in ppe. And will keel you as safe as they can in the current climate

Original poster
BearEastie · 28/02/2021 16:23

@lightand honestly I am not sure, I was told I wouldn't be allowed to and to bring in enough things to do for two weeks as there's no shop trolley, I can't go to the bookshop or coffee shop etc.

Not quite sure how the shower works but I guess they have that in place.

OP posts:
Original poster
BearEastie · 28/02/2021 16:24

@wellhellohi Yes - like I said before it was going to be a problem if that happened and obviously I would have to make that decision if it happens.

Given the number of posters that have said they volunteer the information anyway it may not come to that.

OP posts:
parallax80 · 28/02/2021 16:25

My personal medical information and the risk that my health may or may not pose to patients is a matter between me, my line manager and occupational health.

I have a responsibility to engage with those processes openly and honestly, and to accept the consequences of any limits on my scope of practice due to my health (whether that is health conditions I have not chosen or health choices I have made).

It is not for individual patients to conduct an interview about my health in the middle of a ward, with varying levels of education / insight about risk or risk management.

In the same way that as many of my colleagues now suffer with PTSD symptoms, it is not for individual patients to give them a questionnaire about their current mental health / sleep pattern etc etc to determine if they accept treatment from them. That is the purpose of Occupational Health.