the government has also launched a new campaign urging all unvaccinated pregnant women to come forward and receive their jab. megan paterson reports. more than 90 million covid booster jabs or third doses have been given in the uk so far. as the roll out continues, demand on gp surgeries grows. we were doing over 30,000 booster vaccinations in september. we get about 800 people come in as walk ins in addition to people coming as appointments. to meet the growth in uptake, new measures mean gps across england will now be allowed to defer some of the services they provide to patients, like routine health checks for the over 75s, to allow doctors to focus on covid boosterjabs. we are struggling to meet the increased demand, of day to day work, our own backlog and also the backlog from the hospitals, but at the same time,
more than 90 million covid booster jabs or third doses have been given in the uk so far. as the roll out continues, demand on gp surgeries grows. we were doing over 30,000 booster vaccinations in september. we get about 800 people come in as walk ins in addition to people coming as appointments. to meet the growth in uptake, new measures mean gps across england will now be allowed to defer some of the services they provide to patients, like routine health checks for the over 75s, to allow doctors to focus on covid boosterjabs. we are struggling to meet the increased demand of day to day work, our own backlog and also the backlog from the hospitals, but at the same time, we do understand the importance of trying to vaccinate the population. but there is concern from some patient groups. they warn the measure will disadvantage older people and lead to early warning signs of illness being missed. this is a clear case of age discrimination.
more than 90 million covid booster jabs or third doses have been given in the uk so far. as the roll out continues, demand on gp surgeries grows. we were doing over 30,000 booster vaccinations in september. we get about 800 people come in as walk ins in addition to people coming as appointments. to meet the growth in uptake, new measures mean gps across england will now be allowed to defer some of the services they provide to patients, like routine health checks for the over 75s, to allow doctors to focus on covid boosterjabs. we are struggling to meet the increased demand of day to day work, our own backlog and also the backlog from the hospitals, but at the same time, we do understand the importance of trying to vaccinate the population. but there is concern from some patient groups. they warn the measure will disadvantage older people and lead to early warning signs of illness being missed. this is a clear case
conditions or patients who are maybe new to practice, who have moved into the area, having a check at the point of registration. but aren t routine health checks where gps sometimes find more serious problems that patients need attentive treatment to? well, the patients coming for routine health checks are not necessarily sick when they come for their routine health check. postponing them for two or three months is unlikely to have any significant impact on the patient s overall health. someone whose blood pressure isjust a little bit suboptimal, leaving that for maybe two months is unlikely to have a major impact on their health going forward. so, what would you say to that 75 year old person who is watching now who has diabetes and is waiting for their regular check and is now going to be told that you are not going to be having that check? i think any patient approaching their gps for a check will still go