THE delivery of free travel vaccines in Scotland’s largest health board has been plunged into chaos after a bitter row erupted between NHS bosses and the region’s pharmacists.
It comes after NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde awarded a contract worth around £700,000 to a private GP chain with only two clinics in Glasgow.
CityDoc is tasked with delivering NHS-funded travel vaccines in at least seven out of eight areas within Greater Glasgow and Clyde from April 1.
This covers compulsory inoculations against polio, typhoid, Hepatitis A, and cholera.
Around 32,000 free travel vaccines are currently delivered across NHS GGC annually by GPs, but from April responsibility will shift Scotland-wide from general practice to health boards.
READ MORE: Anger over 'absolute shambles' winter flu vaccine rollout that will see oldest offered jag last
Traditionally, the local Pharmacy Contractor Committee, which represents community pharmacies across NHS GGC, would enter into negotiations with the health board’s pharmacy department to arrange for a designated number of its members to take on this type of service in a way that spread the workload geographically and enabled local access for patients.
Some already provide paid-for travel vaccinations, such as yellow fever jabs.
Instead, responsibility for the rollout was assigned to NHS GGC’s public health department, who put the contract out to competitive tender according to eight area-based lots.
This required pharmacy owners to bid on an individual basis.
However, the process was complicated by stipulations such as a requirement to meet demand for the vaccines across their entire bid area - something that the contractors' committee warned was unfair and unfeasible if a member only had one or two outlets in the whole of Renfrewshire, for example.
The committee told pharmacists not to participate in the the tender, and seven of the eight lots have now been assigned to CityDoc. Bidding is ongoing for the eighth lot.
The UK-wide chain, which has only three branches in Scotland - two in Glasgow and one in Stirling - belongs to Denmark-based European Lifecare, a private group specialising in travel clinics.
READ MORE: NHS bosses told to offer vaccinator shifts 'on same basis' amid pay row
However, pharmacy leaders were left furious after CityDoc began writing to pharmacies across the region last week offering to sub-contract the delivery of NHS travel vaccines to them for a fee.
Pharmacists have been warned against signing up, leaving a question mark over whether CityDoc will secure the premises or manpower to provide the service with just weeks to go.
One pharmacy owner said the profession was “fizzing”.
They said: “Politically, it looks bloody awful. You’re paying a private sector middleman taxpayers’ money to run a service, the end result of which would be exactly the same as if they’d just come to the contractors' committee in the first place.
“Except now there’s a middleman top-slicing it, getting money for nothing - or, worse still, we’re not going to have a travel vaccine service.”
Alasdair Macintyre, chair of community pharmacy for Greater Glasgow and Clyde, said pharmacists would have been an “ideal vehicle” for the service.
He said: “As our teams are right at the heart of every community throughout the city, a pharmacy-led service would keep travel vaccinations accessible to all and as close to home as possible.
"Many pharmacy teams are experienced in the delivery of vaccination services privately as well as having a proven track record in delivering immunisations on behalf of NHS health boards.
“NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde have a long history of working collaboratively with community pharmacy to deliver innovative and effective services throughout the health board area utilising the experience of both advisers, practitioners and patients.
“Unfortunately in this case NHS GGC chose not discuss their proposals.
“Instead they chose to undertake a tendering exercise, the terms of which prevented both individual pharmacies and the committee from submitting a bid on behalf of the local network of pharmacies.
“This is clearly a disappointing development as it is unclear at this point how the identified need will be met in a sustainable way – but the committee remains fully committed to being part of the solution should circumstances change.”
Maurice Hickey, head of policy at trade union, the Pharmacists’ Defence Association Scotland, said: “It seems that NHS Glasgow have awarded the contract for Travel Services to a multi-national owned contractor, one that has insufficient capacity on the ground to deliver services as specified by NHS Scotland.
“Consequently, community pharmacy businesses are being advised by their representative body not to sub-contract, as they disagree with the tendering process.
“Lessons should be learned from this scenario, there should be a clear focus on patient care, with services being rolled out across all local neighbourhoods.”
CityDoc could not be reached for comment.
It is not the first time pharmacists have clashed with health board leaders.
Last summer, the rollout of Covid vaccines in NHS GGC was engulfed in a dispute over pay after community pharmacy owners complained that they were being left short-staffed as locum pharmacists snapped up £66-hour shifts as vaccinators instead.
The health board responded by axing the lucrative rate for pharmacists but continuing to offer it to dentists and optometrists.
READ MORE: Pharmacists' anger as vaccinator shifts cancelled and pay slashed
NHS GGC also came under fire from the Scottish Government in 2020 after it took over the delivery of winter flu vaccines from GPs, but adopted a callback system based on childhood immunisations which resulted in the oldest - and highest risk patients - being invited for the jags last.
A spokesman for NHS GGC said it could not comment on “specific details” while tendering for the travel vaccine contracts is still ongoing.
He added: “We can confirm, however, throughout the process we took advice from a range of stakeholders to ensure the specification can be delivered by a range of professional groups and in a range of settings, including community pharmacy
“We are confident that the service will be in place for delivery from the 1st of April as planned.”
Arrangements are being finalised in other health board areas.
NHS Ayrshire and Arran said it is still “in the final planning stages” of its rollout of travel vaccines, while in Grampian “people will be able to arrange travel vaccinations at one of 35 community pharmacies” across the region.
In Lothian, travel vaccinations will be available from April 4 via travel clinics "spread across the Lothian region" and a hub at the Western General Hospital.
In Lanarkshire, travel vaccines "previously provided by GPs will move to community pharmacies" from April 1.
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