Sajid Javid, accompanied by NHS bosses, are in discussion with the British Medical Association (BMA) about potentially scrapping the Quality Outcomes Framework (QOF) – a move which the BMA fully supports. The QOF means that doctors have a financial incentive to assess the health of vulnerable patients, but the Government wishes to scrap this policy in favour of GPs spending more of their time assisting the booster jab rollout – an operation which the Health Secretary has described as being the Government’s top priority. The Guardian has more.
Ministers may allow GPs in England to halt regular monitoring of millions of patients with underlying health problems as part of the urgent new blitz on delivering Covid booster jabs.
Sajid Javid and NHS bosses are locked in talks with GP representatives at the BMA about relaxing rules which mean family doctors undertake checks on people with diabetes, high blood pressure and other conditions that mean they are at higher risk of having a heart attack or stroke.
On Wednesday the U.K. Health Security Agency (UKHSA) identified 10 further cases of the Omicron variant, bringing the total detected in the U.K. to 32.
Read more: GPs May Soon Stop Monitoring Vulnerable Patients In Favour of Focusing on the Booster Jab Rollout
