Last month, the BMA warned that “many [GP] practices may feel that participation in the annual flu programme is no longer a financially viable option”.
In a letter to Professor Sir Chris Whitty seen by C+D, the British Medical Association’s general practitioners committee (BMA GPC) said that some practices have already indicated that “they do not intend to sign up for the next year’s flu programme” due to costs “having risen substantially”.
Responding to the letter yesterday, Company Chemists’ Association (CCA) chief executive Malcolm Harrison said that “pharmacies are ready to administer more flu jabs if needed”.
But the National Pharmacy Association’s (NPA) director of corporate affairs, Gareth Jones, said that “it’s not for us to judge whether providing NHS flu vaccinations is viable for GPs”.
Read more: ‘Wider range’ of vaccines greenlit for community pharmacy, says DH
Nevertheless, Jones stressed that community pharmacists “are keen to play” their part, “alongside GP colleagues, to increase vaccination rates and ensure vaccines are accessible”.
“All providers need to be paid in a way that makes delivering the service a viable and sustainable proposition,” he added.
And Harrison similarly noted that the flu vaccination programme “urgently needs additional funding”, adding that “the fee paid by the NHS for administering the flu jab has not kept pace with inflationary costs over the past decade”.
Pharmacies can “drive uptake”
“Pharmacies have been part of the national programme since 2015, which has seen continual growth in demand,” he continued, adding that “many patients value the accessibility and convenience of receiving their vaccines from a local pharmacy”.
“With more pharmacies in more deprived areas, pharmacies are also well placed to drive uptake amongst underserved communities and build greater vaccine confidence,” he said.
Harrison added that “in time”, the CCA believe that pharmacy “has the potential to administer all NHS vaccines” to give the public “greater choice to receive vaccines when and where they want them”.
Read more: ‘Delighted’: Pharmacy bodies react to vaccine expansion plans
The BMA GPC letter, written by its deputy chair Dr Julius Parker, noted that the delivery of vaccinations “remains a core aspect of general practice and something that members see as a key part of the service that they provide”.
But he said that it is an area “that has long been neglected”, with funding for GP vaccination programmes remaining “static” since payments were last uplifted in 2018/19.
“Funding for GP vaccination programmes has fallen significantly behind inflation,” Dr Parker continued, adding that “the consequences of the real term decline in funding for these programmes can be severe for both GP practices and patients”.
Difficult choices
Practices are having to make “difficult financial choices on things like their clinical workforce and non-contractual services that they would otherwise like to be able to offer”, he explained.
And these concerns “have been raised with NHS England during discussions on proposals for the annual flu programme to no avail”, he said.
Read more: ‘No plans’ to roll out all adult NHS vaccines in pharmacies
An NHSE spokesperson told C+D today that “general practice plays a vital role in the delivery of flu vaccinations and we thank teams for their continued support”
“While the adult flu fee remains unchanged, we have increased fees for childhood immunisations and next autumn/winter’s Covid programme and will keep funding under review,” they said.
C+D also contacted Community Pharmacy England (CPE), but it declined to comment on this matter.
Read more: GPs and pharmacies must work in ‘joined-up way’, says BMA
It comes as the Department of Health and Social Care (DH) revealed last month that changes to the Human Medicine Regulations 2012 will widen the role of community pharmacy and aim to create a “vaccination system fit for the future”.
Pharmacists could be allowed to administer “any vaccine against an infectious disease caused by a virus or bacteria” to enable community pharmacies to “provide wider outreach services and support a wider range of national vaccination programmes”, it said at the time.
Meanwhile, a health minister revealed in October that the DH “does not currently have plans” to enable community pharmacies to deliver all NHS adult vaccines.
