'We're still here for you' says Halifax GP, despite doctors being ordered to dedicate resources to vaccine effort

That is the message from a Halifax doctor who says access to GPs is still there, and people should come to them with their health concerns.

Dr Sohail Ahmed, GP Partner at Caritas Group Practice which covers Woodside Surgery in Boothtown, Mixenden Stones Surgery and Shelf Health Centre, says the expanded Covid-19 vaccination programme will mean extra work for GPs.

But doctors are as available to help as they have always been.

“The last thing we want is for serious conditions to be missed because people are worried about contacting us,” he said.

The Government has said routine appointments and checks carried out by GPs can be cancelled in order to dedicate resources to offering vaccines to every UK adult by the end of December.

But Dr Ahmed stressed this will only be done on a case-by-case basis and decisions made based on clinical need.

He did ask that people consider whether they could get help from pharmacies or the NHS 111 helpline before contacting their GP to help relieve the pressures they are currently under, as more than half of the daily triage calls his team are currently dealing with are coughs and colds that do not require GP intervention.