The Irish Medical Times will run a daily news update on the progress of the roll-out of the swine flu (H1N1) vaccine to general practitioners throughout the country from this week.
Dr John Casey of Ardfert, Co Kerry, told IMT that his practice had signed up to participate in the vaccination programme on October 9 and had been sanctioned by the National Immunisation Office to give the vaccine on October 16.
However, on Wednesday, November 28, he received a package from the National Immunisation office which contained gloves and other infection-control materials but no vaccine.
The materials he received were to be sent to doctors who had decided not to participate in the vaccination programme, and Dr Casey suggested that the two lists of participating and non-participating doctors had become confused — with the result that he had no vaccinations while several non-participating practices have, in fact, received the vaccines.
Dr Casey says that his efforts to contact the National Immunisation Office have been futile, and that when he did get through, the only reply was from an answering machine that was offering instructions to the general public.
Dr Siobhán Graham of Kilmacud Medical Centre belongs to another practice that had signed up for the vaccination programme. She said that her surgery had not yet received their order. When the practice manager called the National Immunisation Office last week to enquire why it was late, she was told their order had been cancelled on October 16 and reordered on October 28. They expected to receive the vaccines on Tuesday, November 3.
“We were planning to start vaccinating first thing on Saturday (October 31) and we had put a lot of effort into organising it. We have had to put people off. We actually borrowed 20 vaccines from a neighbouring practice so we could go ahead and vaccinate very vulnerable people,” Dr Graham said.
Cork-based GP Dr Len Harty did not sign up to administer the vaccine but received a batch by courier last Friday. In fact, he had gone as far as writing to the HSE to express his dissatisfaction with the way it was handling the roll-out of the vaccine. “I wrote to the HSE to tell them I was not happy with the way it had dealt with the situation with the Irish Medical Organisation,” he said.
“I had told my staff we were not doing the vaccine. A batch arrived and my secretary told the courier we were not doing it. She met resistance and called me out. I told him I had not signed up and to take it back. He said other doctors who were not signed up had also received the vaccine,” Dr Harty said.
Meanwhile, many GPs are unhappy about the level of bureaucracy surrounding the roll-out and administration of the swine flu vaccine.
One area of great contention was the bureaucracy involved. As part of the payment re-imbursement, GPs are required to fill out detailed forms running to three pages long. In return for which they will receive a payment of €10 per patient.
According to the IMO, the main problem surrounding the delivery of the swine flu vaccine has been GPs who have not signed up to participate receiving unsolicited supplies.
“The early feedback we have been getting is that GPs who had not sent back the form to the HSE were getting supplies of the vaccine, and they clearly had not requested it,” said IMO Director of Industrial Relations Mr Finbarr Murphy.
“I did have one doctor call me the other day who said that they did order it and they were told that they were not on the HSE list to be supplied,” he added.
The HSE has accepted that a ‘few errors’ have been made in the distribution chain, and that vaccines have been sent to a number of GPs who had not signed up to the campaign. A spokesperson for the Executive said this had only occurred in a few places, and arrangements were being made to take the vaccines back from the doctors’ surgeries.
Rates of swine flu among the general population have begun to rise sharply — as have hospitalisation rates.
Dr Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer at the Department of Health, also confirmed an additional 109 people were hospitalised with swine flu last week, and an extra 14 patients were admitted to intensive care. To date nearly 500 patients have had to be hospitalised, but the proportion of hospitalised patients requiring intensive care remains steady.
It is estimated that almost 10,000 people are falling ill with the virus every week.
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May I ask as a Mother of a child with Asthma why my GP is refusing to administer the vaccine please? I was told it was due to indemnity issues but the HSE have told me that this has all been cleared up. I’ve heard rumours that it’s actually due to fact that GPs are not getting enough money for each jab? Surely this is not the case though, I imagine that a GP would never put money before their patients health, especially a small child who is vulnerable to this infection. I’d really like to understand what is going on here, so would be grateful if I could have a reply to this query to clarify once and for all.
Many thanks.
Margaret, GPs that have opted out of the vaccination have a number of reasons. Some have chosen not to do this because they are worried that they can not handle the logistics of dealing with patients who want and need the vaccine in their practice. This is further supported by fact that their patients can go to a mass vaccination clinic set up by the HSE. Others have opted out because they are worried about indemnity, but the HSE has issued a statement saying that this should not be a worry. That being said, this communication was not detailed and not completely clear, so those wary of this have stayed away. The GPs are getting paid for the vaccine, but a much lower fee than the seasonal influenza vaccine, although I would be highly surprised if this is an issue around money. The best way to figure out why your GP is not participating is to ask them. I hope that helps.