Drs being paid £10 for home Covid vaccine vacs

mrsgreenfingers56

Thank you for all the posts. This explains it better now, the news made out that the Dr. would personally receive the £10 which I thought was not right.

Well you did get a bit of a pile on and it’s good that you’ve received informed explanations to counter what passes for ‘journalism’ in much of our media. If you read more of stuff like this, why not just come on here and ask if anyone can explain the payment rather than just launch into criticism of it? There are many very well informed posters on GN with a wealth of experience and knowledge in many different fields. Most of us can knock the average tabloid journalist into the proverbial cocked hat ( and then some) although I realise that is a low bar ?

I wouldn’t begrudge them the tenner if they did receive it personally, but they don’t!

Thank you for all the posts. This explains it better now, the news made out that the Dr. would personally receive the £10 which I thought was not right.

Another one here who doesn't begrudge them the money, just full of admiration and gratitude for their hard work.

If the NHS/Welfare State has a fault, it’s that it seems to have bred a culture of entitlement in some people.

Absolutely. Unfortunately.

Good grief.
I went for my vaccination yesterday afternoon (Saturday) at my GP practice, but a group of practices from around the area are carrying out the programme in the one location.
I was in awe of how well managed it was.
The GP who gave me my vaccination took the time to introduce himself as he wasn’t from my practice.
He was probably working Saturday in addition to his normal working week, as were the nurses and other ancillary staff.
Are they expected to work overtime for nothing?

I wouldn’t have begrudged them £10 if I’d had to pay. I’d have been very happy to do so.

If the NHS/Welfare State has a fault, it’s that it seems to have bred a culture of entitlement in some people.

Good grief, this is ‘news’? The NHS are working their socks off trying to cover their normal duties and deploying the vaccine.
So mrsgreenfingers36 I don’t begrudge them a penny and I’m very grateful.

Also excellent post B9exchange.

Excellent post Tweedle.

Grandmabatty, suziewoozie, and others explaining the true situation in GP surgeries, thank you.

I’m frankly amazed mrsgreenfingers that at this stage in the pandemic you are still writing uninformed claptrap about what GPs are doing. I thought we’d got past this by now, but clearly not. My daughter and her husband are GPs and are thinking of going out to New Zealand to work because of the lack of appreciation of what they’ve been doing for the last year from many of the public, and ill informed views being expressed by media and some members of the public. They are on their knees from overwork, and son in law caught Covid through his work in the Covid Hub, and passed it to our daughter. On a previous thread some months ago I listed some 14/15 tasks that GPs have been engaged in during the pandemic. I can thank such uninformed views if my daughter and her family depart from the UK for a better life in New Zealand. I’m
hoping they won’t go because I’ll miss them terribly, but I’m not putting any bets on it.

Incidentally mrsgreenfingers my daughter has been heavily involved through her leadership role, in setting up the vaccination centres across our area. Just another massive task to add to everything else she does.

suziewoozie

NellG

Pretty much what Riverwalk said. This mass vaccination is an additional service, it can't be rolled out as a favour or an act of charity by GP practices. I dislike that the media reports these things as if GPs are pocketing a tenner like some kind of tip or bonus.

And the ill informed deliberately divisive reporting by the media of this issue leads directly to ill informed threads being started on here. The effort that GP practices and the rest of the NHS has put into
this amazing roll out is deserving of nothing but our praise and thanks not mean minded carping based on no knowledge whatsoever of how GP practices work and are financed.

Well said SuzieWoozie, NellG and all those pointing out the extra cost the practice has to find to provide these services.

As for the OP’s assumption that because the surgeries are nearly empty, there is less work going on, I have rarely read such ill informed nonsense. The doctors at the surgery I use are doing phone and video consultations all day as well as seeing patients in the surgery. All the staff are working really hard at keeping everybody safe. I had an appointment at the surgery last week and was really impressed by the care and organisation that has gone into that.

NellG if only it worked like that.

suziewoozie, yes it totally grits my too. However the value in these threads is that people may learn something or explore the issues in more depth and change their perspective based on the replies. Of course some wont.

It might even stop them reading the papers or watching TV and believing that modern journalism is the equivalent of objective reporting... I can dream

Our GP Practice carried out 99 visits to housebound patients on a Sunday a couple of weeks ago. Nine clinicians were involved. Money well spent.

GPs are a business not a volunteer organisation. Why should they not at least expect to cover their costs? I wonder how many who think they should, worked for free?

Thank you to all those who explained the details of this.

As an ex Practice Manager, I can tell you that most GPs don't receive a salary. Their income is made from claiming for every service their provide. They get a certain amount per patient, (not much!) and then claim for anything the practice does. The vaccinations may be done by nurses or GPs, the claim goes in, and the money comes into the practice pot. Same for cervical smears, treatments for diabetics, asthmatics, running clinics, etc. A GP going into a nursing home to do vaccinations will take him/her away from other services, it is right that they should get paid.

Salaries for staff, and non-partner GPs are paid out of the pot, also maintenance of the buildings, IT equipment and support for it, practice drugs for the emergency bags, and all equipment for the consulting rooms and office spaces.

These are large independent businesses, they have an accountant which advises the GPs, after all the other expenses have been paid out, what is left over and how much they can take as 'drawings' which is their income. The senior partner gets the most of course!

NellG

Pretty much what Riverwalk said. This mass vaccination is an additional service, it can't be rolled out as a favour or an act of charity by GP practices. I dislike that the media reports these things as if GPs are pocketing a tenner like some kind of tip or bonus.

And the ill informed deliberately divisive reporting by the media of this issue leads directly to ill informed threads being started on here. The effort that GP practices and the rest of the NHS has put into
this amazing roll out is deserving of nothing but our praise and thanks not mean minded carping based on no knowledge whatsoever of how GP practices work and are financed.

Sorry, mine was done at the GP surgery, not at home, but it was still in addition to the "normal" business. Home visits are even more labour intensive, and involve travel costs too.

Someone employed just to to administer vaccines is paid to do that. When the GP is doing it, it is in addition to their normal duties, which they are still doing, so if the practice get paid per jab, they are getting it for overtime.

There is quite a lot of organisation goes into running the vaccinations at the surgery, I counted four other people involved in the process as well as the GP who actually vaccinated me. There are the costs of the equipment etc too.

Sorry crossed with you NellG.

You are right Riverwalk.GPs in the main are private businesses contracted to the NHS and receive payments for vaccinations, including children’s, which their staff do, and quite a few other services too.

It’s always been the case, and I would have thought £10 doesn’t actually cover the cost. My mother had a home vaccination from a member of staff, not GP, from her surgery.

Pretty much what Riverwalk said. This mass vaccination is an additional service, it can't be rolled out as a favour or an act of charity by GP practices. I dislike that the media reports these things as if GPs are pocketing a tenner like some kind of tip or bonus.

I think it`s only fair tbh.
You don`t have to leave your house,Gp`s have to use their car plus fuel it.
That in itself deserves a £10 of anyones money IMO.

When I said the person giving the vaccine isn’t paid, I meant of course not paid in addition to the salary they receive as a practice nurse or whatever. If they are doing extra hours, then they’ll get paid whatever the rate is for that.

Will the GP have to stay with the patient for 15+ minutes after administering the vaccination to ensure that the patient can be treated if they go into anaphylactic shock? If so, that needs to be factored in.