Drs being paid £10 for home Covid vaccine vacs

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.

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.

Excellent post Tweedle.

Also excellent post B9exchange.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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 do not think that we should fall into the trap of thinking that GPs are currently sitting around doing nothing, and that the absence of normal surgeries means they have nothing to do. They are pursuing phone consultations instead, and having to deal with a multitude of precautions for seeing patients face to face. I know our local surgery is working harder than ever.

On the issue of payment - this is how the system works - paid per patent on the books, then paid for specific tasks, which includes vaccinations of all sorts. It is a tedious system for those who have to administer it, but that is how it is.

I have no problem with a GP practice being paid £10 to administer a covid vaccination at home.

My OH was a GP and one of the items that attracted a payment (though not from the NHS, but from funeral directors) was signing cremation certificates to state that the deceased had not died in a suspicious way and it was OK to cremate the body. They dubbed it "Ash Cash" - typical medical humour - and they put it on one side as a pot for going out for a staff meal - we used to call it the "Ash Cash Meal."!!

It should cover their petrol. Better off giving it to the nurses that deliver the vaccine,

Whoever delivers the vaccine isn't doing it for nothing as well as their full-time job.

This is getting like the acrid discussions accusing teachers of sitting at home with their feet up all day, from people with only the haziest idea of what long-distance education involves.

It needs repeating again and again that GPs are working full-time already at telephone and zoom appointments and seeing those patients in person who need face-to-face attention. They are fitting in vaccinations as well, often at weekends and after their day'a work.

Plus, it is not the individual who gets the money, it is the practice, which has had to spend on the equipment as well as carrying out the project.

The bottles of vaccine are only a part of it - there are syringes and needles, wipes, hand sterilisers, gloves, and of course the phone calls taking up the receptionist's time, as well as (obviously) the petrol costs of travelling to homes.

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.

Are you me, janeainsworth? I did exactly the same yesterday and came away with the same feeling of awe.

Our NHS is a miracle, as it is spectacularly demonstrating with the vaccination programme. And we get it very much on the cheap. I think of that every time we have to call a vet out for the horses. Costs £30 before they've even seen the animal. And surgery visits for the small animals aren't much cheaper. £10 is nothing...

Harris27

It should cover their petrol. Better off giving it to the nurses that deliver the vaccine,

Really? Their time counts for nothing? This really is an absolutely ridiculous thing to say. Who else do you think should work for nothing?

This is not aimed at the OP who has already responded

But maddyone's comment about entitlement is so right, I think. We're engaged in the biggest vaccine rollout any of us have ever seen, we're getting it all free at the point of use and it seems to be going pretty well.

Yet people are complaining about who should get it first. I've seen posts about how some of the vaccination stations in hubs weren't being used when the poster was there. And I'll not mention the people who think its all a shambles because their auntie's dogwalker's sister-in-law hasn't been called yet!

That's some time ago EV. Home visits had fallen to less than 1% by 1980s; mainly due to restricted resources and growing populations. Plus their contracts no longer have the capacity to offer home visits.

I'm sure many doctors would like to do them as it give a greater insight in their patient's life style, particularly the elderly.
One technological advance is that more home consultations can be arranged now via the internet (for those who have computers).

As I saw our local news the other night, it took two people to do the home visits for vaccinations. They arrived with complete change of PPE. However, there was a limited number they could do as they could only use the Oxford vaccine. All the additional costs of travel have to be taken into account too. The doctor went as they were shielding patients so a home visit was really useful.

I'm another whose thankful for all the hard work that's being done from doctor's surgeries to hospital wards.

How much would you pay a plumber on a call out? £10 is nothing in the scheme of what it costs.

I apologise up front that I haven't read all the posts on here but I would just say that when I was Head of District Nursing I have spats all the time with GPs who were paid to provide certain services that my DNs actually delivered but the money didn't come into my budget so I could employ more nurses.

I would have thought its all hands to the pump in the community now HVs, School Nurses, specialist nurses etc.

I wish them all well and thank them for doing a very difficult job at all times not just now.

I agree with what has been said in praise of the work of a GP.
I had my vaccination yesterday (Saturday) at the surgery and it was very well organised indeed. There was a steady flow of patients coming through without any of the long queuing in the cold that I have seen on the television.
I get really annoyed at petty criticism of the vaccine rollout, for example, a woman on a radio phone in complained that her mother’s home visit for the jag had been cancelled for Friday and rescheduled to Sunday. A politician on the same show took this up as an example of the government failing to deliver.
Unfortunately, there is an election in May and it is in the interest of opposition parties to get us all stirred up by spouting sensationalist half truths. Voter beware!

Maizie

MaizieD if your vet only charges £30 call out fee you are extremely lucky. Ours charges £85 + VAT!

I would have gladly paid £10 for my vaccine.

Understandable GP surgeries are being careful who they see face-to-face if a Covid patient were to go into the surgery the whole place would have to close for up to 14 days.

alegrias I’m afraid I can’t take the credit for the quote about entitlement you mentioned, the credit goes to janeainsworth.

Nonetheless I find it heartening that so many posters are totally in support of the work they know their GPs are doing. Last year there were a few threads where GPs were accused of ‘hiding behind closed doors.’ Obviously the posters must have been different ones as almost everyone on here understands what the GPs are doing.

Incidentally Harris neither doctors nor nurses are being given the money, it goes to the GP practices to offset expenditure.