Up to 50,000 NHS staff 'not vetted'

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Research by BBC Radio Five Live said the number of workers who have not been vetted by the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) could top 50,000.

Currently, trusts are not required to vet employees who have worked for them since before the CRB was established in 2002.

Five Live surveyed every trust in the UK and found 61% had not vetted existing staff.

Only 29% had conducted checks, and the remaining 10% did not answer or were not applicable.

However, many trusts said employees in sensitive posts such as paediatrics would have undergone police checks under the previous vetting regime.

Guidelines on a new vetting system within the NHS are due to come into effect in autumn next year.

New staff and those who change jobs within the NHS are already required to face CRB checks.

Liberal Democrat health spokesman Norman Lamb said: "It is remarkable that a scheme that is in place to help carry out these checks and make patients more secure is being ignored in so many cases."

He added : "The same standards should apply across the board. It makes no sense to have different sets of standards depending on what point somebody started to work for a trust."