Sajid Javid today admitted GPs’ workload will be shifted to focus on the booster campaign in a dramatic U-turn — as fears grow that face-to-face appointments with doctors will once again take the hit.
The Health Secretary said getting third doses into people’s arms to protect against the Omicron variant had become the ‘new national mission’, after months of strong-arming GPs into seeing more non-Covid patients in-person.
No10 announced last night that it would offer more than 50 million booster jabs per adult by the beginning of January. This will mean massively increasing current drives, which are barely reaching 2.5m/week.
GPs will once again be a key anchor of the vaccination programme and will be incentivised with doctors getting £15 for every jab delivered with a £5 bonus per shot delivered on Sundays and a £30 premium for jabs delivered to vulnerable people in their homes.
When asked if he’d ease the work load of doctors complaining about overwork, Mr Javid said on BBC Radio 4’s Today that ‘Yes’ – it’s our national mission to improve the health and well-being of this nation.
“We have been working with GP representatives over the past two days to find ways we can make their lives easier. That will be the responsibility of NHS.
It is not clear what the reprioritisation of appointments with GPs will do to face-to-face visits. Although they have increased by 64 percent last month, their numbers are still well below those levels pre-pandemic.
There are also concerns about the wider impact the shift could have on non-Covid care, with record A&E wait times, and heart attack and stroke patients facing average waits for an ambulance of nearly an hour with Mr Javid himself warning last month that emergency care was being put under significant strain because patients were struggling to see GPs in person.
Sajid Javid, Health Secretary has stated that the new “national mission” for the health system is to deliver vaccines. He also said there was “noting more important”.
Below is a graph showing how the NHS’s waiting list might grow until 2025. According to the National Audit Office, if 50% of patients who have been missing return are treated and demand rises at 3.2% per year, then the waiting list could reach 12 million. They suggested that if the NHS can increase the number of treatments dispersed by over 10 percent per year, then the list could stabilize at 8 million in 2024 and fall slightly if they fail to do so.
Latest figures reveal that the proportion of patients with cancer who started treatment in less than a month has fallen to its lowest point since September records were created. In 2009, records began. According to the health system’s standards, 96% of patients should start treatment within 30 days after approval.
Total 18million Britons have received a booster jab thus far. Yesterday’s guidance changes will make it possible for all 53 million adults aged 18 and over to be eligible. If everyone is given a booster at the current rate (2.4 million per week), it will take them until March.
Despite the total A&E admissions in England being just two per cent more than August and equal to the number of people who came forward during the same month (October) in 2019, 7,059 patients were forced to wait more than 12 hours to be seen at A&E. This record-breaking figure represents 40% more than 5,024 patients who had to wait so long one month before.
M. Javid noted that everybody should be offered a third Covid vaccination by January 31st.
However, doctors warn that some aspects of their medical work could be lost as they focus on pritoritising vaccines.
In a famous battle of words, Javid demanded that GPs increase their face-to–face appointments. At one point, he threatened to impose a ‘name-and-shame’ system on the profession for performing poorly.
Gary Howson, Vice Chairman of Royal College of GPs hinted at the need for decisions on the type of doctor that can be provided. He stated: ‘GPs work to their full potential right now.
“And if our focus is going to shift to the vaccine programme, then we need to make some clinical decisions as to where there’s most clinical value.”
As Dr Howson nodded to the face-to-face appointment, he said that the GPs would have to prioritise certain aspects of their work in coming months. The doctor also requested greater government support to cut down on the bureaucracy that hinders patient care.
He said that doctors are facing immense pressure. They had conducted 34 million appointments in October. That’s 2million more than September. 7million more August. Two thirds of those were face-to face.
We need to know what it is we are able to quit doing. Audits and tick box exercises are all distractions from our work. We need the Government’s manifesto promises to add 6,000 additional GPs and to recruit 26,000 more members of its team by 2024.
To accelerate the progress of the rollout, the Government already has drafted 400 military medics. 1,500 pharmacies have also been recruited.
In potential, however Dr Farah jamel, the chair of BMA England GP committee yesterday stated that routine blood pressure check should be canceled. These contracts are binding on us. For months, we have been calling on that this be lifted. She said that we are “a burned out workforce”.
We are asking for a change in our clinical priorities. There is no way we can do everything. The focus must be on medical need. Right now, we need to focus our efforts on the massive implementation of a booster and vaccination program. It is possible, but it seems that we have been distracted by other priorities. However, we must be freed from all contractual responsibilities.
The push for Covid boosters could cause a drop in face-to-face GP appointments. This will hurt patients who’ve seen a significant increase in their ability to go to doctors even though the actual number remains low. pre-pandemic levels.
NHS England data indicates that 64 percent of October GP appointments were face to face, compared to 8 in 10 prior the pandemic.
Last month, Mr Javid announced a £250million package for GP surgeries to help doctors offer more in-person consultations.
Doctors rejected the plan, which involved ‘naming and shame’ to make sure that there were not enough face-to-face appointments.
While doctors claim that virtual consultations are preferred by some patients because they’re more convenient for them, it has been reported that vulnerable persons are not receiving the help they require.
Coroners warn that distant appointments could have led to death.
According to one NHS executive, getting GPs involved in the vaccine rollout is a’very big ask’. He added that it was extremely challenging to reach the January goal due to the lack of volunteers, medics and facilities.
And one GP practice manager tweeted: ‘Cash won’t make much difference, it’s the workload & workforce that’s the problem. This is not about the people who call patients and organise rotas.
The potential consequences of a lack of GP face-to-face appointments were laid bare yesterday after a National Audit Office report detailed millions of patients had missed out on vital care during the pandemic – and could now return to the health service to increase the backlog.
One key aspect of this was between 240,000 and 740,000 ‘missing’ urgent GP referrals for suspected cancer from March 2020 to September 2021. Between 35,000 to 60,000 people received treatment for cancer in this period, which is lower than what would be expected.
The report authors said it is uncertain how many ‘missing’ cases will return to the NHS over the coming months.
If 50 percent of those affected seek treatment and the activity keeps growing in accordance with pre-pandemic plans then there would be 12 million people on the waiting list by March 2025.
Current There are already 5.83 million people on the waiting list to receive NHS care.
NHS England data showed that only 83% of patients saw within the standard 18-week period in February 2020. This number had fallen to 66% last month.
The NAO report also suggested Boris Johnson’s controversial new ‘health and social care levy’ would be inadequate to prevent hospital waiting lists continuing to soar. It is possible that this report increases fears about the NHS swallowing up nearly all the money from new levy within the next years. This will leave very little money for collapsing Social Care sector.
The impact of the Covid backlog is also being felt in the nation’s A&E departments
Boris Johnson revealed the stepped-up booster drive yesterday in order to defend the country from the Omicron strain, shortly after being alerted by eight additional cases of Omicron infection found in England.