Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has for the recommencement of B12 injections at GP practices.

Approaches to management of B12 injections during the pandemic are a local matter.

The British Committee for Standards in Haematology (BCSH), which operates independently of Department and NHS England and produces evidence-based guidelines on the diagnosis and treatment of haematological disease, has published a range of general and specific haematology guidance for clinicians in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. This includes new guidance on the management of both dietary and non-dietary B12 deficiency. On B12 injections the BCSH guidance recommends that screening questions for COVID-19 infection are asked before patients attend their general practitioner (GP) surgeries. Alternatives to attending the GP surgery such as local pharmacies or home administration by district nurses should be explored. The guidance can be found at the following link:

b-s-h.org.uk/media/18259/bsh-guidance-b12-replacement-covid-1924042020finalversion2020-4-3.pdf