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Millbrook Healthcare has denied any wrongdoing after a BBC report stated that the company told staff it has access to Covid-19 jabs “through a back door”.

The BBC states that it was shown part of an internal email exchange from Millbrook which says: “Through a back door we have access to vaccinations in Aylsham on Saturday and Sunday of this week.

“If you would like to get yours booked, please follow the instructions below… Team leaders and managers please pass on to those who do not have email access.”

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Millbrook Healthcare in Kent, whose staff deal directly with patients, said that it had given all staff access to the booking system with Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust to enable them to check their eligibility.

A spokesperson for Millbrook Healthcare exclusively told THIIS that as frontline healthcare workers for the NHS, the NHS correctly included its staff in the coronavirus vaccine roll out, so that it can continue to provide its NHS wheelchair service during the pandemic to help people leave hospital or to help them stay at home safely.

In a statement, it said: “The BBC contacted us on 21 January regarding claims that we were accessing the Covid-19 vaccine via a ‘back door’, which a colleague had written in an email, despite our access to the vaccine being legitimate and in line with the NHS vaccine roll out to healthcare workers.

“We confirmed that as providers of a frontline NHS service (to NHS Kent and Medway Clinical Commissioning Group), we shared the link to the Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust portal with our colleagues, who are frontline community healthcare workers, as authorised by our commissioners, so that we can continue to provide a service on behalf of the NHS throughout the pandemic.

“This is in line with the current guidelines for vaccinating healthcare workers providing an NHS service, so that we can continue to provide our much needed service, to help people leave hospital or help them stay at home safely and retain their independence.”

Currently, priority for vaccinations is given to frontline health and social care workers, care home residents and staff and people aged 80 and over, as determined by the JCVI (Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation).

As per the JVCI green paper, the mobility industry’s frontline staff are included as part of health and social care staff. In a recent statement, the British Healthcare Trades Association stressed the need for the healthcare industry to be prioritised for the vaccine rollout following official guidance from NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHSEI) that frontline health and social care workers be prioritised in the vaccine rollout programme.

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