GPs are to be incentivised to deliver “accelerated” Covid-19 boosters to care homes this autumn.

Care home residents in England and Wales are scheduled to be the first to receive their Covid-19 boosters as the national programme gets under way today.

NHS England confirmed to Caring Times that GPs will receive payments of up to £525 per completed care home by 23 October as part of a campaign to prioritise jabs for more vulnerable groups.

Payments will be staggered on an incremental scale according to the size of the care home with

£150 for small care homes (1-10 residents), £275 medium care homes (11-49 residents), £400 for large care homes (50-149 residents) and £525 for very large care homes (150-250 residents).

An NHS England GP webinar reported by Pulse said “providers should make arrangements to vaccinate care home residents within 10 weeks of the start of the programme (from 12 September), or as soon as reasonably possible”.

The webinar added that St Ambulance volunteers were available to support care home vaccinations as well as “additional workforce available through the lead employer including registered healthcare professionals, unregistered vaccinators and administrators”.