‘Ludicrous’ red tape slowing down vaccine roll-out plan

Doctors are being forced to complete a training course on “how to give an injection” in a “ludicrous” example of red tape that threatens to slow down the national vaccine roll-out plan, according to one veteran doctor.  

Describing his own situation, Dr Adrian McGoldrick, a Kildare GP with over 40 years experience, said: “I applied to become a vaccinator because I am retiring in June and would be available to assist at a mass vaccination centre.” But he says: “I was told I would have to take a half day off work to go to Dublin to complete a training course including ‘how to give an injection’.”

This is despite the fact that GPs have previously completed a HSE-approved training course in order to administer Covid-19 vaccines at private practices.

To add to the frustration, GPs who want to offer their services at vaccination centres must also complete a ‘basic life support course’ and a module on ‘how to deal with a case of anaphylactic shock’— despite the fact that they are already qualified in both.

Dr McGoldrick, who withdrew from the process in frustration, says: “There are a lot of GPsout there like me who are very willing to give a hand and the HSE is losing a cohort of highly-skilled people because of this ludicrous process.”

Speaking on RTÉ radio’s News at One on Wednesday, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said 19 of the planned 38 vaccination centres around the country were now open and last week 130,000 vaccinations were carried out. The minister said having enough vaccinators would not be an issue as there were between 500 and 600 people now in place with 800 to 900 cleared “and ready to go” at the vaccination centres.

But Dr McGoldrick said: “The closing date for vaccinators to apply has had to be extended three or four times at this stage and it is a problem of their own making. I have spoken to other GPs like me who are so frustrated with the process that they won’t apply.”

He said: “Someone in the HSE needs to sit down with the recruiter, CPL Healthcare, and rethink this to suit different applicants.

“Qualified GPs who are already registered with the Irish Medical Council and nurses who are registered with the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO), who are already administering vaccinations, should be able to transition directly.”

His comments come as would-be vaccinators also complained that they have been asked for their childhood exam results, as well as a copy of their CV and their birth certificate, during the recruitment process.

Elsewhere, Dr McGoldrick described how a 93-year-old man had to be carried out of his practice when batches of the Covid vaccine failed to arrive last Monday. In a situation that highlights serious logistical and communication problems in the HSE’s roll-out plan, the patient, known only as Jim, was carried into the GP practice by his son Seamus on Easter Monday.

Dr. McGoldrick said it was one of the most upsetting sights in his career as a GP. “We had been scheduled to vaccinate over 50 patients that afternoon. Staff came in to prepare at 9am and the vaccines were due to be delivered between 12 midday and 1pm but they never arrived and there was no contact number available to call.

“By 3pm, it didn’t look like they were going to come so we had to send all the patients home. My staff and I stayed on in the hope it might arrive and eventually the delivery turned up just after 4pm, so we called the patients back in to complete the vaccinations.”

He said: “Jim was totally bedridden so his son Seamus had lifted him up in his arms and carried him in to the surgery for the vaccine. I had to send him home again when the vaccines didn’t arrive and then bring him back in again, and, to me, that was just shocking. I was in tears when I saw him leaving. I was genuinely that upset. I had put him down for the national ambulance service but they still haven’t started visiting people at home yet.

“I qualified in 1976 and have been in General Practice since 1980 and have pretty much seen it all dealing with the extremes of medicine every day so it takes a lot to upset me.  Patients deserve better.”

He added that communication and logistical issues need to be addressed ahead of the much-trumpeted roll-out of four million vaccines over the coming months. “I still don’t have a dedicated number to call if vaccines don’t turn up again. We are due to get another batch in four weeks time on the May bank holiday weekend and again I have no number to ring if they don’t show up.”

On the logistics front he said: “The Defence Forces have highly trained experts who would be ideal to assist with this.”

Online Editors