“The public and private health systems have an obligation to provide safe work environments for their staff and safe circumstances for their patients.”
Mr Hazzard said in a one in 100-year pandemic there was no room for delay.
“I think it’s imperative the entire health system is on the same journey and so the consultation with public and private hospital providers and the unions is critical,” he said.
The meeting of peak bodies on Wednesday included the Australian Medical Association,NSW Nurses and Midwives Association,Royal Australian and New Zealand College of General Practitioners and private hospitals.
Healthcare providers will conduct education campaigns about the mandate before September 30.
Brett Holmes,general secretary of the union representing 73,000 nurses and midwives,said while the union “strongly supports vaccine of healthcare workers”,caution should be taken before mandating because “supply and access are still major problems.”
“We need to understand how many staff will be excluded from the workplace on a drop dead date only weeks away”.
According to a survey by the union this week,75 per cent of about 7000 nurses who responded are fully vaccinated and about 10 per cent of public sector nurses would consider leaving the workforce if vaccination was compulsory.
“There is still a concerning number of people – about 11 per cent - indicating their hesitancy about vaccination or how difficult it is to get a vaccine,particularly in regional areas,” said Mr Holmes.
“A substantial amount of work needs to be done to allay concerns. We are on a knife’s edge at the moment and as strongly as I feel about vaccination I do not want to see members who are vaccinated left short-staffed by those who are excluded from the workplace. ”
The Australian Salaried Medical Officers Federation president,Dr Tony Sara,said that the union supports mandatory vaccination.
“It’s the way to go for the safety of patients and staff,but the issues are the timelines,supply and the logistics of administration.”
“We support mandatory as soon as practically possible;but September 30 is still aspirational at this stage.”
NSW Health data reveals that from the start of the current outbreak until July 31,about 12 per cent of 98 healthcare workers who caught the virus had been fully vaccinated and about one third had received at least one shot.
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In NSW,it is already mandatory for health staff in high-risk areas to have an annual flu vaccine and front-line staff must show evidence they are inoculated against measles,diphtheria,tetanus,whooping cough and chickenpox.
National cabinet agreed to mandate vaccines for the aged care sector in late June. Of about 82,000 aged care workers reported in NSW earlier this month,56 per cent are reported as having received a first dose and,of those,32 per cent are fully vaccinated.
On Monday New York state and Washington DC announced vaccine mandates for healthcare workers following an announcement by California earlier this month asking its two million workers to be inoculated by the end of September.