The 2018 GP contract forced general practices to give up their responsibility for immunisations. In rural areas this has meant that patients may have to travel huge distances for routine vaccination. General practice is the right service to deliver an immunisation programme - it is convenient for patients, flexible and it give the potential for 'opportunistic' vaccination when patients attend for other reasons. Immunisation rates will certainly drop as a result of these changes, potentially damaging the health of the whole population.
Rural practices with their small patient numbers have staff who have multiple roles. Transferring the funding from health boards to practices to provide this as an extended service helps pay for and retain staff, provide a sustainable and local service for patients and a more holistic approach. The current model of centralised delivery is fine for urban or suburban areas but is not fit for purpose for a rural, widely spread population - it is more expensive to deliver, more travel time and inconvenience for patients and delivered by staff who don't know patients in the way their local GPs and nurse already do
In my experience, some of the locations people are being asked to attend at for immunisations are NOT accessible, do not have suitable seating or waiting areas for disabled and elderly people and are more like cattle marts... people are expected to be able to queue for over an hour outside with no shelter or seating provided and no accessible parking. The treatment of disable and elderly people has worsened seriously in the last few years and is unlawful. People need to be treated like valuable members of their communities and not treated like lesser citizens who have to travel ridiculously long distances or miss out on their vaccinations.
Totally agree. Our GP gave us all the initial covid vacines and their ws almost 100% take up and no wastage because if someone on the list wasnt available, he rang the next person. These teams of vaccination nurses are a waste of time and money - they should be on the wards not doing the work GPs are willing to do
Our imms rates have dropped because those living far away from the imms centre often can't get there because of lack of public transport/ no access to car or simply choose not to undertake a 3-4 hour round trip. Similarly the treatment hub access is unequal for same reason. Centralisation has created new inequalities and the most vulnerable, children and elderly, are loosing out
This content is created by the open source Your Priorities citizen engagement platform designed by the non profit Citizens Foundation