London’s Chief Nurse receives flu jab in Croydon to launch winter vaccination drive

The jab forms the opening act of a capital-wide drive to immunise NHS staff before the winter flu season, a period when frontline workers face heightened exposure and can unknowingly transmit the virus to patients who are most vulnerable.

Bonner stressed that staff constitute the NHS’s “single biggest asset” and cited NHS England data that last winter’s vaccination programme prevented an estimated 104,000 hospital admissions and 7,100 deaths across England. She urged every NHS employee to be vaccinated for the sake of themselves, their families and the patients they care for.

Deborah Kelly, Chief Nursing Officer for Croydon Health Services NHS Trust, welcomed Bonner to the centre and highlighted the trust’s public-health service for children aged 0-19. Kelly added that getting a flu jab should be quick and uncomplicated – a few minutes with a friendly face – and that each conversation and convenient clinic helps chip away at hesitancy.

Capital-wide push for staff protection

Across London, trusts are rolling out a variety of initiatives to boost uptake. Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust, for example, trained peer vaccinators to hold informal chats with colleagues, set up pop-up clinics on wards, introduced QR-code booking and published a weekly league table to spark friendly competition.

The trust reported that these measures nearly doubled vaccination rates last year and cut flu-related sick days by about 1,500. For the 2026/27 season it aims to expand the peer-vaccinator network to more than 65 individuals, each tasked with vaccinating at least 65 colleagues.

Interim Chief Nursing Officer Jo Peck said the success stemmed from listening to staff concerns and encouraging peer-to-peer dialogue rather than relying on posters. Bonner praised the approach, describing the peer-to-peer trust as “incredibly powerful”.

Protection builds roughly 14 days after the injection; even when vaccinated staff catch flu, symptoms tend to be milder and shorter. The vaccine cannot cause flu, and side-effects are usually limited to a slight temperature rise or a sore arm lasting a day or two.

Every vaccinated member of staff helps shield babies, pregnant women, older adults and immunocompromised patients from a virus that can be deadly for those with weakened defences.