UK: GPs to be paid £100m for giving swine flu jabs to high-risk groups

[Guest guest]

I think this is scandalous. If they're going to pick up this sort of money

for giving the jabs, they can pick up the tab when someone they've jabbed

suffers as a result of it!

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/health/Swine_flu/article6834459.ece

From The Times

September 15, 2009

GPs to be paid £100m for giving swine flu jabs to high-risk groups

Sam Lister, Health Editor

Family doctors will be paid more than £100 million to give swine flu

vaccines this winter after a deal was brokered with the Government worth £5

25 for every dose.

The agreement with the British Medical Association was reached yesterday

after lengthy negotiations over how much GPs will be paid for administering

the jabs.

The programme is due to start next month, subject to licensing. More than 13

million people in high-risk groups and the health service will be asked if

they want the vaccine. Those in high-risk groups include pregnant women and

people with asthma and diabetes. The deal covers vaccine for 11.5 million

people, while 2 million health workers will be immunised through their

workplaces.

The news comes after research out yesterday revealed that one dose of the

swine flu vaccine was enough to protect people against the virus. The

results of GlaxoKline’s first trial on its swine flu vaccine, which

will be used in Britain, showed that one dose produced a strong immune

response.

The Government had planned for each person to receive two doses of the

vaccine, because earlier clinical trials showed that a double dose was

needed. A spokesman for the Department of Health said yesterday that this

could change in light of further clinical trials.

The BMA argued during negotiations that they would need to cover staff and

administration costs, as well as possible overtime, but they accepted that

they would be getting less than other inoculation rates because swine flu

was likely to be a mass vaccination scheme. Doctors receive £7.51 for each

seasonal flu dose and for other jabs such as travel vaccines.

The Government has ordered 132 million doses of vaccine from GlaxoKline

and another company, Baxter — enough to immunise the entire UK population

against swine flu with two doses. It has yet to decide if the campaign will

be extended to everyone.

The money for vaccinations will come from the Department of Health budget

and will be used for contacting patients, administering the vaccine and, if

necessary, taking on extra staff.

Andy Burnham, the Health Secretary, said that the deal was great news for

patients and good value for money as it would reduce the number of people

needing hospital treatment. “We have used this welcome breathing space over

the summer to make sure that we are prepared for the forthcoming winter

flu-season,” he said. “The vaccine is the best line of defence against this

virus and I would strongly urge all of those in the at-risk groups, as well

as frontline health and social care workers, to have the vaccine.”

Mr Burnham said that all at-risk groups would be able to receive the vaccine

in their own surgery as soon as the European regulators had licensed vaccine

ce Buckman, chairman of the BMA’s GPs committee, welcomed the

agreement as the best way to deliver the vaccine to the at-risk population.

Doctors have also been given some leeway over their access targets —

guaranteeing appointments within 48 hours as well as advanced bookings — if

they achieve high immunisation rates.

“This will be a lot of additional work for practices, but general practice

is used to running large vaccination programmes,” Dr Buckman said. “We are

confident that GPs and their teams will have the resources they need in

order to run the swine flu vaccination programme smoothly and efficiently.”

However, the TaxPayers’ Alliance questioned the generosity of the deal,

which it said should be considered part of the primary care service. “Once

again, the Government have failed the taxpayer by signing up to an

extortionate deal with GPs that will pay them a fortune for doing something

which is meant to be part of the service anyway,” Elliott, its chief

executive, said.

GlaxoKline said that its vaccine trial results showed one dose can

“provide a strong immune response” which exceeds the requirement set down by

authorities that will license the vaccine. Its clinical trial, which is

taking place in Germany, involves 130 healthy volunteers aged 18 to 60.

More than 98 per cent of the group receiving the vaccine with an adjuvant

had an adequate immune response three weeks after receiving their jab. A

vaccine adjuvant is a substance that helps boost the immune response to the

main virus and strains that may develop out of it.

GlaxoKline is conducting a further 15 studies in more than 9,000 people,

including healthy adults, older people and children in Europe, Canada and the

US.