A WORCESTERSHIRE doctor has asked the Government to cut GPs some slack over plans for them to vaccinate thousands of children against swine flu before Chirstmas.

Dr Simon Parkinson, secretary of the Worcestershire Local Medical Committee, said the Department of Health should relax some other targets GPs have to meet if they want doctors to vaccinate 30,000 county children against the virus.

His comments follow a row between GPs and ministers over the jabs for children between the ages of six months and five years.

GPs want the Government to relax the target that GPs must see all patients within 48 hours to free up time for the vaccination. It has been suggested that GPs want more than the £5.25 for administering the vaccine to each patient but Dr Parkinson said it was “not an issue of money” but of time.

The vaccines are supposed to be offered by the middle of this month so children can be vaccinated before Christmas but GPs were concerned they will not have time to administer the vaccine on top of all their other work at the busiest time of the year. Dr Parkinson said: “It’s very simple. This is the busiest time of the year. In my practice alone we may have to vaccinate between 500 and 600 children. That’s a significant chunk of work.

“It’s not an argument about money. The issue is ‘when the hell are we going to do this? It’s busy.’ We are going to need more nurse and doctor time. We have all sorts of other targets to meet on issues like diabetes and asthma. Our message is ‘cut us some slack with these targets’. The Department of Health has so far refused and I think that’s a shame. It would be a really nice gesture. It’s really unfortunate.”

Dr Parkinson said the rating of individual GP practices would suffer if they did not meet targets and he thought the vaccinations may have to be given at evenings and weekends. A spokesman for NHS Worcestershire said: “Locally, negotiations with GPs are under way and we are hoping for an outcome to these negotiations as soon as possible. As soon as plans are in place then patients who are eligible between the ages of six months and five years will be contacted.”

Health secretary Andy Burnham, said: “It is disappointing that we have not been able to come to a national agreement with GPs to vaccinate children from six months to five years old. But we are now getting on with the job and asking local health trusts to put local plans in place so that vaccination of these children can begin seamlessly.”