Practices must now transfer any Covid vaccination records that have been recorded locally or on paper into the central online system, NHS England has said.
Full demographic data and batch information must also be entered into Outcomes4Health, which is provided by pharmacy system Pinnacle, it added.
Management in Practice’s sister title Pulse revealed in February that GPs across England were facing problems with the Covid vaccination payment system, potentially delaying thousands of pounds worth of fees and leading to unnecessary paperwork.
At the time, the BMA warned that PCN-led vaccination sites were forced to record patient information on paper due to the IT issues with Pinnacle.
In an operational update sent to practices last night, NHS England said: ‘All historical records, that have previously been recorded locally or on paper, should now be entered into the Outcomes4Health system. Please try to submit historical records in date order starting with the oldest. This will ensure that these events are prioritised for NHS number allocation first.’
Records should be submitted ‘in month order’ – starting with the oldest – and should include ‘full demographic data and batch information for the event’, it added.
BMA GP Committee chair Dr Richard Vautrey told Pulse that while the transferring of records will ‘undoubtedly be a frustration for practice staff, it is necessary that this process is completed’.
He said: ‘It is important that there is a centrally held record of patient vaccinations to aid vaccine status discussions and to ensure information used to process practice payments for work completed is up to date and accurate.’
In November, NHS England announced that GPs would use Pinnacle to record Covid vaccinations until their own IT systems have been modified – however, the system has faced glitches since day one.
This story first appeared on our sister title, Pulse.
