NHS staff to be given ‘Covid-19 passports’ so they can be redeployed quickly in any second wave

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NHS staff will be given “Covid-19 passports” to help hospitals redeploy workers during a feared second wave of infection.

Bosses at NHS England say the digital passports, which are stored on workers’ phones, have been successful in pilots across the country and are being rolled out “to support the Covid-19 response”.

The Covid-19 crisis has triggered a major reorganisation of NHS care, with hospitals now having to plan to restart routine services while at the same time maintain their readiness for any increase in coronavirus cases.

The passports will help redeploy staff quickly to where they are needed most.

Traditionally, nurses, doctors and other staff have been forced to have repeat employment checks and to attend lengthy two-day inductions despite remaining within the NHS.

When the idea for a more general digital passport was first launched last year, NHS England said the passports would allow workers to move “seamlessly between sites” and help “plug gaps in staffing”.

All hospitals in England have been told to sign up for the scheme which involves staff holding their information on their own mobile phone in a secure app.

This will include a verified record of their identity, employment and clearance information.

NHS England said the passports would make it easier for community nurses to be quickly redeployed into hospitals or for senior doctors to be transferred to help in neighbouring organisations.

The interim Covid-19 passports are part of a wider effort to improve the treatment of NHS staff and to improve retention of nurses and doctors. They are available to all NHS staff.

A spokesperson for NHS England said: “NHS staff have performed extraordinarily during the pandemic, giving care to more than 105,000 people, and helping them to respond even more rapidly, efficiently and effectively to events for the rest of the year is vital.

“The staff passport – being trialled successfully across the country – allows managers to plan for patient care, supports staff to take on new roles and develop their skills and is one of a number of simple but important measures the NHS is taking to support staff and improve patients’ treatment.”

The idea was initially trialled at five London hospitals during 2019.