Enhanced Services

Practices to be paid £10 supplement for vaccinating vulnerable children

GP practices involved in delivering the Covid vaccination programme will receive an additional payment of £10 for administering Covid vaccinations to vulnerable children aged 12-15.

NHS England announced at the end of last month that GP practices would need to start vaccinating eligible 12-15 year olds at high risk of severe Covid-19 by 23 August.

And earlier this month, Pulse reported that NHS England had instructed practices to begin vaccinating eligible children against Covid, a week after some practices had to cancel initial bookings.

Identifying patients

In a letter from NHS England sent last Friday, all practices – including those not participating in the Covid vaccination programme – were advised they should run searches to identify any eligible 12-15 year olds by 19 August, in a bid to get vulnerable children in this age group vaccinated before they return to school.

Those delivering the enhanced service should invite eligible children for vaccination ‘as soon as possible at their vaccination side and by 23 August 2021’, the letter stated.

Practices who have opted out of vaccinating this cohort and those not delivering Covid vaccinations should share their lists of eligible patients with their local commissioner, for their appointments to be offered at another provider.

The letter noted that practices that opted out of phase 2 of the Covid vaccination programme (cohorts 10-12) but who continue to deliver Covid-19 vaccination to cohorts 1-9, can vaccinate eligible 12-15 year olds, ‘if they have not opted out of vaccinating patients in cohort 13’.

The letter noted that practices that opted out of phase 2 of the Covid vaccination programme (cohorts 10-12) but who continue to deliver Covid-19 vaccination to cohorts 1-9, can vaccinate eligible 12-15 year olds, ‘if they have not opted out of vaccinating patients in cohort 13’.

Payment

Practices will be paid the usual £12.58 per dose of Covid vaccine administered, plus a supplement of £10 can be claimed per vaccination dose to eligible patients aged 12-15 years old.

Recording of the payment is to be done by amendment of the existing ‘home of housebound’ data field on the Point of Care system, to reflect inclusion of eligible children and consent options to support their vaccination.

Any vaccination events carried out before this update should be recorded as if administered at the home of a housebound patient ‘to ensure the £10 supplement is recorded’ and ‘avoid retrospective recording of the data’.

Identifying household contacts

The JCVI has also recommended Covid vaccinations for 12-17 year olds who are household contacts of immunosuppressed people, and the letter from NHS England advises practices also have an ‘important role’ in identifying adults and children with immunosuppression who are at higher risk of serious disease from Covid-19. They should be advised that any 12-15 year old household contacts are now eligible for the vaccination (in addition to household contacts aged 16 years and over).

The letter provides a template letter for contacting these patients in Annex A.

 In addition NHS England has published this set of FAQs on vaccinating children and young people.

Source: NHS England letter: COVID-19 vaccination programme: actions for all practices to support vaccinating eligible 12-15 year olds. Published 13 August 2021

Guide URL:
https://pulse-intelligence.co.uk/guide/practices-to-be-paid-10-supplement-for-vaccinating-vulnerable-children/
XYou have free access remaining to read.

You have reached your limit of free access to articles.

Please login to access all guides.

Or, please register for a free trial to access all of the guides and unlock all features.

CONTINUE WITH FREE TRIAL or BUY NOW