A STUDENT nurse has called for free flu jabs to be provided to her and her colleagues to help prevent the spread of the disease among vulnerable patients.
Charlotte Ritson has launched a petition asking NHS Scotland to provide the vaccine to nurses learning their trade when they are posted to clinical areas.
Flu jabs are provided to doctors and fully qualified nurses, but students who spend time in hospitals and in community clinics do not receive them unless there is an underlying health reason.
Instead they are expected to pay for jabs themselves, or go without immunisation. The cost of getting a flu jab privately is around £10.
Charlotte said: "Student nurses spend around 60 per cent of their time shadowing nurses in hospitals and in clinics and we do not receive a flu jab while this is taking place. This means we risk contracting seasonal flu and possibly passing that on to patients, many of whom are vulnerable or elderly.
"It seems counter-productive to try and control the spread of infection by immunising full-time staff but ignoring the many students who have daily contact with patients."
The student, who is in her third year at the University of Stirling, has previously been posted to Forth Valley Hospital. She hopes to work in palliative care when she graduates, and has worked with district nurses during her placements as well as in the hospital's Accident and Emergency department.
She added: "Although the vaccine is not of high cost, the fact that students must pay out of their own pockets in order to protect themselves and their patients from influenza seems fundamentally wrong.
"I have started this petition to raised awareness of the situation and hope that it is something that the Scottish Government will take action on."
Ms Ritson case has been taken up by Shadow Health Secretary Dr Richard Simpson, who has tabled a motion at the Scottish Parliament calling for change.
The Mid Scotland and Fife MSP is asking the Scottish Government to ensure student nurses, midwives and other health professionals such as physiotherapists, occupational therapists and radiographers are offered the influenza vaccination if they are undertaking clinical placements.
Dr Simpson said: "It is important that NHS staff get the free injection, and nursing students on placement should be treated as staff.
"They should not have to pay out of their own pockets when that is going to help protect patients in the future. All health boards should act on this and it should be applied to midwife students and other allied health professional students as well if they are on clinical placements."
A Scottish Government spokesperson said it was up to health boards to ensure student nurses were offered flu jabs: “Student nurses who may be exposed to the flu during placements in NHS Boards should receive the flu vaccination in line with all other NHS healthcare workers," he said.
“Each year a joint letter is issued from the Chief Medical Officer and Chief Nursing Officer to the NHS setting out arrangements for the flu season. This letter highlights the importance of the flu vaccination being offered by employers for staff or other individuals who may be at risk of occupational exposure.
“It is a matter for each individual university to ensure the appropriate health and safety standards for their student nurses are met.”
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