Patrick Christys: I wouldn’t pay GPs a penny for giving out Covid jabs until they start doing their jobs properly

Our health system’s priorities are all wrong. Two stories came out today that highlight how upside down our NHS currently is.

Firstly, there is the biggest cancer catastrophe ever – as many as 740,000 people who should have been urgently referred by their GP for a cancer test were ‘missed’. Secondly, GPs are set to be paid as much as £30-per-jab to help with the vaccine rollout.

So basically if you think you might have cancer, you’ve got more chance of seeing your GP if you book in to get your booster shot than you do if you want to have an actual appointment with them.

There will be people, potentially hundreds of thousands of people actually, who will have found a lump months ago, have been trying to see their GP to no avail but when they turn up to get their Covid jab – there they are, as if by magic.

It looks to me like many GPs have catastrophically misdiagnosed their priorities.

So, Estimated “missing” urgent referrals for suspected cancer during the pandemic could be as high as 740,000 while between 35,000 and 60,000 cancer patients missed their first treatment since the start of the pandemic, according the National Audit Office. 26 per cent had to wait more than 62 days for treatment to start.

The Midlands is the worst hit region of England with 57 per cent of patients in Birmingham and Solihull waiting more than 62 days. Some 51 per cent waited more than 62 days in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland with 43 per cent in Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent. But, believe it or not, it gets even worse.

NHS waiting lists are expected to reach 12 million by 2025. This means that one fifth of our entire population will be waiting for NHS treatment. Even under the best case scenario it’s predicted that the number of people in England alone waiting for routine care – currently at a record 5.8 million – will increase to 7 million in 2025.

That’s not exactly a ‘best case’ scenario, is it? Does anyone else find it staggering then that GPs are now going to be given a cash bonus for giving people the booster jab?

NHS chief executive Amanda Pritchard has announced GPs are to be paid up to £30 per vaccine as part of a ramping up of the booster jab roll-out in the UK. She said the payment GPs receive for administering a Covid jab is to be increased from £12.58 a shot to £15 Monday to Saturday and £20 on Sundays.

GPs will also be given £30 to offer people who are housebound in their homes as an extra incentive, the NHS boss revealed. She said, get this,: “We will ensure that they are properly rewarded for their efforts, particularly when they take time to visit vulnerable housebound patients who can’t travel to vaccination sites.”

Rewarded for their efforts? Yes, I imagine it’s incredibly hard work deliberately not meeting patients for face-to-face appointments and not diagnosing them with terminal cancer.

The sheer effort that must go into sticking a needle into peoples arms, especially on a Sunday…the stunning bravery of it all. I tell you what, it just makes you want to go outside and clap for them doesn’t it.

Ms Pritchard said the NHS is looking at whether it can “safely reduce” or “even eliminate” the 15-minute wait time after a jab.

And here in lies the problem. The reason why they want to eliminate that waiting time is so they can line more people up and make more money. This sums up the absolute madness of our NHS’ priorities.

Most people couldn’t care less if they had to wait 15 minutes for a Covid jab, they could care deeply about getting an appointment with their GP or getting a cancer diagnosis.

I wouldn’t pay GPs a penny for giving out Covid jabs until they reduce their waiting times and start doing their jobs properly.

It’s not safe to see people face to face, you’re too busy to diagnose people with cancer, but you’ve got all the time in the world to administer a Covid vaccine for cold, hard cash.

It’s all wrong.