Practices may need to ensure they add temporary staff such as sessional GPs to their vaccination lists, according to a trade union.

The British Medical Association has warned that sessional GPs, especially those working as locums, are facing difficulty in many areas in getting access to COVID-19 vaccination. Their rates of vaccination are much lower than other doctors, the BMA said, even though all healthcare workers are meant to have received their first vaccination by the end of the month.

Dr Rachel McMahon, from the BMA’s GP sessional committee, says these doctors must flag themselves as healthcare workers. The first is to ask practices at which they are working to add them as members of staff – or even to ask practices where they have been in the past to add them.

She writes: “The crux of any potential problems seems to be the identification of locum GPs, and GPs in any non-standard roles, as healthcare workers. Sadly, no centralised system has been invented, meaning that there are a huge number of local options. But, flagging yourself as a healthcare worker is essential to access a vaccine promptly.”