MMR Vaccine

Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle Excerpts

Thursday 20th July 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Markham (Con)]

As mentioned, there are outreach programmes, particularly for home-schooled children or children who are not there. There are also programmes in community centres, with the idea of trying to pick them up in as many places as possible. Obviously, there is concern about certain communities that are harder to reach than others. That is particularly the case in London, as I mentioned earlier. That is where we are trying to specifically target those community centres with outreach work.

[Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (GP)]

My Lords, in April the UK Health Security Agency’s director of public health told the Health and Social Care Committee in the other place that the workload for delivering vaccines now falls disproportionately on general practices—particularly after the 2012 NHS reforms—and that this is one of the weaknesses we are trying to put back together.

In that context, the Minister may be aware of the issue around the quality and outcomes framework payment to GPs. GP practices in deprived areas are missing out on payments for delivering vaccines that could help them deliver more vaccines because it is extremely difficult for them to register the patients whom they have tried to contact multiple times when those patients do not respond. So, the GPs are missing out on payments they need to be able to reach those difficult-to-reach patients.

[Lord Markham (Con)]

I am sorry, I am not quite sure what the question was there. Clearly, we need to make sure that the system is working in terms of making sure that the payments are there so the doctors can follow up. If the noble Baroness would like to follow up with me, so that I can fully understand it, I will get her a response.