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It's 11 days until the next phase of vaccination and the continued lack of clarity around priority for people with a learning disability baffles me. This is pretty technical, but bear with me...
What has the JCVI said so far: People with a "severe" or "profound" learning...
What has the JCVI said so far: People with a "severe" or "profound" learning...
... disability should fall within Group 6 - people with underlying conditions. This is because there's really good evidence that people with a learning disability are more at risk of getting more ill if they get coronavirus.
Lots of people (including @mencap_charity @LearningDisEng & ors) are pushing for this group to be expanded to cover all people with a learning disability. I think they're right, both morally and because I don't think the NHS can actually do it in any other way. And here's why...
Anyone with a learning disability *should* have it marked on their GP records. That's how the Learning Disability Register exists. The main way that the NHS is deciding who should be called for a vaccine & when is through GP records.
While GPs put learning disability in people's records (generally - although not enough!), they don't tend to describe the level (mild, moderate, severe profound). If you use GP data to extract people who have a severe or profound learning disability, it'll miss loads.
Govt says it will follow the JCVI advice. If Govt wants to do this and doesn't want to miss anyone out, it will have to invite all people with a learning disability on their GP records.
I've seen this put to ministers, the JCVI and officials - alongside other arguments too. Given the uncertainty is really worrying for people with a learning disability and their families, I don't understand why it hasn't simply been announced.
This just feels like one of those things that obviously has to happen, so why delay? Sure, there will be other announcements about phase 2, but does this one have to wait? I'll try and raise at the #NHSAssembly later today too.
The alternative is that this isn't made clear, in which case the JCVI prioritisation just won't be achievable. And no one wants that.
AN EXTRA OPINION: This isn't a perfect way of rolling out the vaccine to vulnerable people, but it may well be the most feasible now. The whole JCVI list is unsurprisingly very clinical. But we know that vulnerability to coronavirus isn't only clinical, it's social too.
This means that JCVI is looking through a medical lens to try and figure out who might be vulnerable. Sadly, this means that there isn't a proper view of *all* people with complex needs who rely on care (though it catches most). If they or their carers get ill, they face a risk.
It may not be a risk of getting more physically ill, but a risk to their wellbeing and/or safety. Govt needs to fix this and we @Autism (and others) have been making the case about this over recent months.
IMHO, a better approach would have been for NHS to request lists of working age adults receiving social care - and to invite all of them for a vaccine.
You could do this on top of specific clinical vulnerabilities (incl learning disability). But seeing as working age social care is <1m people and the overlap with clinical vulnerability will be high, you're not talking about many more people. But you won't miss ppl out.
But - and here's the "data data" kicker I know you've all been waiting for - THIS IS WHY WE NEED BETTER HEALTH AND CARE DATA CONNECTIVITY, so this could be done automatically. It just doesn't work for the 21st century. The end.
