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Patient group direction for GP Covid vaccine delivery published

Patient group direction for GP Covid vaccine delivery published

The patient group direction (PGD) under which GPs will deliver Covid vaccinations has today been published.

It follows fears that the delivery mechanism would not be ready in time for the start of the GP programme.

Under an alternative legal mechanism, GPs would have been required to ‘individually assess’ each patient before vaccination and to take full clinical responsibility for all vaccinations delivered by non-prescribers.

And each vaccination was calculated to take three minutes longer than previously planned under the alternative plans.

But Public Health England (PHE) has today published the documents, which will apply from Monday – with the programme is set to launch in GP hubs on Tuesday.

PHE said: ‘The Patient Group Direction (PGD) can now be used by local organisations as the legal mechanism for administering the COVID-19 vaccine to patients and staff. 

‘The PGD will apply from Monday 14 December 2020 to ensure there is sufficient time for organisations to update their staffing mix and delivery models.’

NHS England promised at the start of this week that the PGD would be ‘in place in time’ for practices to start vaccinating patients, revealing the final details of the programme.

GPs were last weekend given the green light to start delivering Covid vaccinations in the week commencing 14 December.

However, it comes as GP networks have been forced to pull out of delivering Pfizer vaccine due to new safety guidance following news of two allergic reactions.


          

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