10 COVER STORY
An overshadowed workforce
Primary care and community nurses are integral to the healthcare system and the fi ght against Covid-19 . But , as Mimi Launder reports , their importance is being overlooked
General practice was thrust into the spotlight in
December last year as surgeries started to receive Covid-19 vaccinations for the NHS ’ s biggest ever inoculation programme . Primary care will be running local vaccination services and going to people who are unable to attend the sites , such as those in care homes . General practice has joined critical care units as the front line in the fi ght against Covid .
The Government aims to vaccinate 15 million people by mid-February , and millions more by spring . But this huge task will be impossible without practice nurses , who normally organise , manage and deliver vaccination programmes . While GPs may be more involved this time , practice nurses will still administer or oversee the vast bulk of the Covid-19 jabs . But when the media or authorities talk to or about general practices they turn to GPs .
When announcing the massive fl u vaccination programme
last summer , health secretary Matt Hancock seemed to suggest he was passing legislation to allow nurses to administer jabs , although they have been doing this for decades . ‘ We have changed the law so that more people can administer the jab . We want pharmacists , nurses and GPs to be able to administer it ,’ he said .
On 6 November , the direct enhanced service – an opt-in , nationally negotiated service over and above those provided under usual contracts – for general practice to deliver the Covid-19 vaccine was published . Nursing in Practice revealed the Royal College of Nursing ( RCN ) was not consulted on the agreement between the British Medical Association ( BMA ) General Practitioners Committee in England , NHS England and NHS Improvement . Prominent nurses were concerned that the nursing voice was missing .
Professor Alison Leary , chair of healthcare and workforce modelling at London South Bank University , told Nursing in
DANIEL MITCHELL nursinginpractice . com Winter 2021