Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether all patients in NHS facilities are entitled to ask if those treating them are vaccinated against COVID-19.

The NHS Constitution sets out the rights to which patients are entitled, which includes the right to be involved in decisions about their care and the right to be cared for in a clean, safe, secure and suitable environment. However, there is no specific entitlement for patients in National Health Service facilities in relation to asking whether staff treating them are vaccinated.

Regulations have been laid which, subject to Parliamentary approval, would introduce COVID-19 vaccination as a condition of the deployment within health and wider social care settings. The Department continues to work with NHS England on engagement with NHS staff who have not yet been vaccinated to encourage them to help protect themselves, their colleagues and the people they care for. Currently more than 92% of NHS staff have received a first dose.