Routine care to suffer for boosters, say NHS chiefs

Senior NHS leaders have warned the only way to hit the government’s booster vaccine deadline will be to reduce or cancel routine care, as they await direction on how to roll out the plan.

- REBECCA THOMAS

Speaking with The Independent, several NHS leaders have said it is inevitable that ramping up Covid-19 vaccination services to meet the government’s January deadline will draw healthcare staff away from non-urgent treatment. Plans to invite all adults for a Covid-19 booster jab by the end of January were announced on Monday, however healthcare providers have yet to be told how the NHS is expected to ramp up the rate of vaccinations.

One NHS trust leader in the Midlands said reducing routine care will “absolutely be the only option” and added: “It’s the only way of hitting the deadline, we’ve done the modelling and [we] will need hundreds of additional whole time equivalent staff. The only way we will be able to meet the requirement will be to stop less essential and more routine work and I’m very reluctant to do that given the backlogs and pressures in the system.”

NHS waiting lists are already at record levels, with 5.8 million people in line for routine treatment. The National Audit Office (NAO) predicted on Wednesday this could reach 12 million by 2025. Ministers are reported to be discussing whether GPs can suspend work such as health checks and screening, which come under what is called the national “quality outcomes framework” contract. During 2020-21 this contract was suspended to help GPs deal with immediate pandemic pressures.