The BMA’s GP Committee should negotiate fairer funding for vaccinations that does not ‘financially discriminate against practices with low vaccine uptake’, the LMCs Conference has said.
Proposing the motion, Londonwide LMC deputy chief executive Dr Lisa Harrod-Rothwell said GPs are ‘penalised and undermined’ through lack of resources and support.
In all, 218 delegates at the UK LMCs Conference voted in favour of the motion, with 10 voting against and 11 abstaining.
Dr Harrod-Rothwell said: ‘If resourced and supported, we are well-positioned to have a positive impact on health inequalities through individual clinical care, wider patient advocacy and community engagement. But we’re not resourced nor supported, quite the reverse. We are penalised and undermined.’
She added that she feels ‘immense frustration’ when population health is ‘reduced to shifting responsibility for outcomes of public health programmes like bowel screening onto practices’.
GP leaders also demanded BMA must negotiate enhanced funding for GP practices serving areas of significant deprivation to resource addressing the additional workload
In total, 154 GPs voted in favour of this part of the motion, with 78 voting against and 16 abstaining.
Glasgow LMC medical director and GP Dr John Ip spoke against the motion, arguing that it was ‘divisive’ as it ‘separates out those practices in deprived areas for enhanced funding, whilst leaving other practices that may have similar workload pressures’.
Pulse reported last month that some GP practices face losing up to £66k in child immunisation payments due to stricter targets.
Pulse also revealed that GPs have received ‘menacing’ anonymous letters warning against administering child Covid vaccinations, claiming to come from solicitors.
Meanwhile, BMA England’s GPC deputy chair Dr Kieran Sharrock recently warned MPs that PCNs have ‘worsened’ health inequalities.
Motion in full:
AGENDA COMMITTEE TO BE PROPOSED BY WESTMINSTER:
That conference is deeply concerned by the rise in health inequalities in our communities and calls upon GPC to:
(i) conduct a review into the impact of current national and local general practice funding models including funding formulae and outcomes payments – PASSED
(ii) negotiate enhanced funding for GP practices serving areas of significant deprivation to resource addressing the additional workload – PASSED
(iii) negotiate a requirement for a health impact analysis to be carried out by commissioners when any new housing or care homes are located in these areas of deprivation – PASSED
(iv) negotiates for fairer funding of vaccinations which does not financially discriminate against practices with low vaccine uptake – PASSED
Source: BMA
