More than 1,400 staff at Nottingham hospitals have still not received a single Covid vaccine ahead of a February deadline for all patient-facing workers to be jabbed.
NHS staff working in patient-facing roles will be required by law to be double jabbed by April 1.
This means workers must have received their first vaccine by February 3 or else they will be either dismissed or redeployed.
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At Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH), 8 per cent of staff have still not had one dose, as shown in recent board papers released by the trust.
The percentage equates to 1,440 of the trust's 18,000 strong workforce, which spans across Queen's Medical Centre, City Hospital and Ropewalk House, although not all of those roles will be patient-facing.
In a report, Rupert Egginton, acting chief executive, said NUH had now received national guidance on the mandate, and recognised it was an "incredibly difficult decision" for some staff.
He revealed that, at the time of writing, 92 per cent of directly employed staff had received a first jab, and 92 per cent have had a second.
Mr Egginton said that the requirement was not only for those staff directly caring for patients, but for all workers who enter patient areas and may have "social or incidental contact" with those being treated.
He added that NUH was keeping managers up to date on the vaccination rates within each department, and has sent letters to unvaccinated staff asking them whether they intend to be jabbed.
"We are completely committed to supporting them with the advice and support they need to make a decision about having, or not having, the vaccine," said the acting chief executive.
"We are of course also planning for any impact of unvaccinated staff leaving our organisation on April 1."
Ben Bradley, MP for Mansfield and leader of Nottinghamshire County Council, described the new law and potential decision to remove NHS staff as “nonsensical”.
The Conservative MP said: “I cannot see how it can be OK for these staff to have worked throughout the riskiest time of the pandemic, when transmission was at its highest, only for us to sack them now as it falls away and the risk recedes.”
Mike Scott, spokesman for campaign group Keep Our NHS Public, agreed everyone should be vaccinated but said the rule was "completely unnecessary" and "counter-productive".
He said: "Sacking people who want to go to work could easily force the closure of whole service areas within our hospitals, and how will that benefit anyone?
"There are other ways of ensuring patient safety, such as daily testing, and this diktat is yet another misjudgement by the Government, which could hardly have done a worse job in handling the response to Covid.”
In the NUH chief executive report, the current Covid situation within the hospital was also detailed. It said that as of January 20, 221 patients in hospital had Covid.
However, just a fifth of those patients were being treated for Covid, with the remainder being treated for other conditions but have incidentally tested positive.
The hospital has also seen a gradual and slow reduction in Covid patients in critical care, the report adds.
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