News Release issued by
the COI News Distribution Service on 14 September 2009
The upcoming swine
flu vaccination programme will be administered by GPs following
successful negotiations between the Department of Health, General
Practitioners Committee (GPC) of the British Medical Association
(BMA) and NHS Employers, Andy Burnham announced today.
The vaccination programme, which is expected to begin in the
autumn, subject to the vaccine being licensed, will target the
nine million people most at risk from complications. The vaccine
will reduce the number of people needing hospital and intensive
care treatment and save the NHS money in the long run.
The new deal will mean that GP surgeries will receive £5.25 per
dose of vaccine given. The additional money will come from the
Department of Health budget and will help surgeries to contact
patients, administer the vaccine and, if necessary, take on extra
staff.
It is currently expected that patients will receive two doses of
the vaccine. This advice may change following clinical trials.
Health Secretary Andy Burnham said:
“This is great news for patients.
“We have used this welcome breathing space over the summer, to
make sure that we are prepared for the forthcoming winter
flu-season. Senior health advisors reported to me last week that
the NHS is able to double its critical care capacity, and we have
now finalised plans for the delivery of the vaccine.
“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. All
at-risk groups will be able to receive the vaccine in the familiar
surroundings of their own surgery and we can begin offering it to
people as soon as it has been licensed by the European regulators.
"I am glad that we have reached a fair deal with the GPC
and I am pleased that GPs will continue to play a key role in the
fight against swine flu. They have already worked incredibly hard
in what have been very difficult circumstances to help their
patients. This deal represents good value for money as the vaccine
programme will reduce the number of people who will need hospital
treatment.”
Dr Laurence Buckman, chairman of the BMA’s GPs Committee, said:
“We are pleased we have reached a national agreement as we
believe this is the best way to deliver the vaccine to the at risk
population. This will be a lot of additional work for practices,
but general practice is used to running large vaccination
programmes. 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.”
Dame Barbara Hakin, NHS Employers lead negotiator, said:
“We are extremely pleased that we have reached an agreement with
the GPC on the UK-wide arrangements that will enable the effective
delivery of the swine flu vaccination to those patients identified
as being at risk. This agreement will help primary care services
across the UK to provide vaccinations effectively and is a step
forward in national preparedness against swine flu. GPs have an
absolutely crucial role to play in the plans to combat swine flu
and I am confident that they will carry out this role extremely well.”
The following groups will be prioritised in this order (numbers
given are approximate and are for England only):
People aged over six months and under 65 years in current
seasonal flu vaccine clinical at-risk groups (about 5 million
people). All pregnant women, subject to licensing conditions on
trimesters (about 0.5 million people).Household contacts of people
with compromised immune systems e.g. people in regular close
contact with patients on treatment for cancer (about 0.5 million
people).People aged 65 and over in the current seasonal flu
vaccine clinical at-risk groups (about 3.5 million people). This
does not include otherwise healthy over 65s, since they appear to
have some natural immunity to the virus.
Further details of the agreement include (see Editor’s Notes for
the full details):
the Quality Outcomes Framework (QOF) will not change for
2010-2011;if GPs achieve a given uptake in vaccination (the
precise level still under discussion), the thresholds for
achievement of QOF indicators on patient experience will be
lowered; and the collection date for data on childhood
immunisations to be delayed by six weeks to mid February to allow
practices time to carry out the swine flu vaccination programme.
Notes to Editors
1. NHS Employers and the GPC have agreed the following to support
the implementation of the UK swine flu vaccination programme for
those patients recently identified by the Joint Committee for
Vaccinations and Immunisations (JCVI) for vaccination.
a. Payment to practices - £5.25 per dose of vaccination given.
b. The collection date for data on childhood immunisations to
be delayed by six weeks to mid February to allow practices time to
carry out the swine flu vaccination programme.
c. Local
enhanced services (LES) funding will not be withdrawn to fund the
vaccination programme.
d. District nurses will vaccinate all
the housebound in line with the seasonal flu arrangements.
e.
Practices vaccinating a higher percentage of 'at
risk' swine flu patients (a minimum of 3% increase),
compared to the 2008/09 UK uptake of seasonal flu, will be granted
a 10% drop in the upper and 20% drop in the lower thresholds of
Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) indicators PE7 and PE8 in
2009/10.
f. No change will be made to the Quality and
Outcomes Framework, which is used to rewards GPs for high quality
care, for 2010-2011. Also indicators recommended by NICE for
retirement (28 points) will be released in 2011-2012. NICE will
then pilot suggested new indicators and if appropriate, will
include them in their recommendations for future indicators.
2. The vaccination programme is expected to begin in the autumn,
subject to the vaccine being licensed by the European Medicines
Agency. The agency has strict processes in place for licensing
pandemic vaccines. The vaccine will not be used until it is
licensed. Manufacturers anticipate that licenses may be granted in
October. Vaccination will commence as soon as possible once
licences are granted.
3. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation reviewed
the evidence and advised the Department of Health on the crucial
risk groups to be offered vaccination in order to reduce the rate
or possibility of serious illness.
4. This advice was also scrutinised and endorsed by the
Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE).
5. Decisions on vaccinating the wider healthy population will
depend on the evolution of the pandemic as well as new and
emerging clinical data on the use of the vaccine. This will be
kept under close review.
6. The Department of Health (DH) has placed orders for sufficient
H1N1 swine flu vaccine for the UK population. The orders are with
GSK and with Baxter.
For more information please contact the Department of Health
Press Office newsdesk on: 0207 210 5221.
Contacts:
Department of Health
Phone: 020 7210 5221
NDS.DH@coi.gsi.gov.uk