NHS probe as pharmacists accused of rigging jab shifts
Eight alleged to have played system to hog lucrative roles
DENTAL leaders in Scotland have demanded a full investigation amid claims pharmacists rigged NHS booking systems to monopolise lucrative Covid vaccination shifts.
It is alleged a group of eight employees used bots – computer software that performs repetitive tasks – to book multiple shifts at the NHS Louisa Jordan Hospital in Glasgow as soon as they were advertised.
Some are said to have passed on shifts to colleagues during the scam, which is said to have been going on for months.
At one point, pharmacists could expect to earn up to £700 for a 12-hour shift, the same rate as doctors and dentists.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde confirmed it is investigating “anomalies” in the booking system.
The British Dental Association claimed the booking scandal and vaccine supply issues had led to dentists in Glasgow struggling to secure shifts.
Robert Donald, chairman of the BDA’S Scottish Council, called for an investigation “with no stone unturned” and added: “Anyone who has gamed the system is beneath contempt.”
The BDA has suggested the situation in Glasgow contributed to a decision to downgrade pharmacist payments, but this has been denied by the Scottish Government.
Pharmacist shift rates were changed in late March from
£231 per 3.5-hour shift to Band 5 rates of £15 per hour due to a “misunderstanding” over contract guidelines, but the change did not affect dentists and doctors.
About 160 pharmacists were registered to provide vaccinations but the pay change is said to have led to lower uptake and a shortage of vaccinators.
According to the BDA, dentists in Glasgow were sent text messages yesterday afternoon urging them to help out with immunisations but most were unable to assist because they were in practice.
The NHS Louisa Jordan Hospital closed at the end of March, with mass vaccinations moved to
The Hydro.
The BDA said it had been seeking urgent talks with the Scottish Government about shifts availability but said discussions were delayed due to pre-election purdah rules.
It is the latest row to engulf Scotland’s Covid vaccinations taskforce.
In March, nurses complained they had been left feeling “hacked off” and undervalued when they
discovered that independent contractor colleagues were being paid nearly five times as much.
The discrepancy arose out of a misunderstanding around the term “independent contractor”.
The £231 per session rate was originally agreed by the Scottish
Government as a payment to independent enterprises such as pharmacies – which contract their services to the NHS – to compensate them for giving up a member of their team to work part-time at vaccination hubs.
The rate was never intended to be paid on an individual basis to locums, who have no overheads or business costs. However, the message became confused as vaccinator recruitment was devolved to health boards and locum pharmacists, dentists, optometrists and GPS began being hired as “independent contractors” on £231 per session.
The Scottish Government intervened to correct the arrangement after community pharmacy owners complained of staff shortages as locum pharmacists cancelled shifts to work as vaccinators instead.
Locum dentists, GPS and optometrists are continuing to receive the higher rate, however.
The decision led to the pharmacists’ trade union, the PDA, holding talks with the Government over the move, suggesting it amounted to a breach of contract.
BDA chairman Robert Donald said: “Scotland is returning to something resembling normality thanks to the vaccination programme.
“Anyone who has gamed the system is, frankly, beneath contempt. We urge the authorities to leave no stone unturned to uncover the facts at NHS Louisa Jordan.”
The BDA has suggested a decision to downgrade pharmacist pay rates was linked to booking anomalies in Glasgow.
However, the Scottish Government denied the two were related. A spokeswoman for NHS
Greater Glasgow and Clyde said: “We would like to thank all those involved in the highly successful rollout of the vaccination programme across NHSGGC.
“We have a large bank of staff vaccinators to call on.
“We have been made of aware of some anomalies in the way some shifts were being booked and these are currently under investigation. Shifts are made available to all vaccinators to book at the same time.
“Strict security and identification protocols are in place at NHS Louisa Jordan for all staff entering the building.”
The Herald contacted the union that represents pharmacists – The Pharmacists’ Defence Association – but no one responded to our request for comment.
It emerged this week that Scotland’s unused vaccine total has risen to nearly one million doses after a slowdown in jags.
Data published by the Scottish Government shows numbers of daily vaccinations dropping off since the last week of April.
The seven-day average for daily doses was 48,000 at that time – but had fallen to 35,000 this week.
New supply figures suggest more than 900,000 doses made available to Scotland since December are unused.
Daily data for the four UK nations shows Wales is ahead of the rest, having inoculated 77.2 per cent of its adult population with one dose, and 33.9% with two.
Northern Ireland has vaccinated 67.6% with one dose, and 34.6 per cent with two; England has done 67.2%, with 34.4% given two.
Scotland has given 66.1%of adults one dose – just under three million people – and 34% two.
Asked about the apparent slight lag behind other UK nations, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the rollout in Scotland was going “incredibly well”.
She said that in the last few days: “I think we have been slightly behind Wales but ahead of England’s”.
Ms Sturgeon said: “There may be days where that looks different but overall the vaccination programme is going exactly as we would have expected.”
A spokeswoman for the Scottish Government said: “Due to a misunderstanding of national guidelines, some individual locum pharmacists participating in the programme were being paid the incorrect rate. Updated guidance has been issued, reaffirming the existing position.
“Locum pharmacists are self-employed individuals and not independent contractors and therefore cannot be listed on the board pharmaceutical list.
“The suggestion that pay rates changed for any other reason is false. All staff employed to work on the programme are paid in accordance with nationally set terms and conditions and are working to agreed job roles, which come with specified rates of pay. We value the contribution of everyone who has offered their services.”