Exclusive: 24/7 vaccine drive resisted by management consultants paid to speed up jabs

Plans to rollout Covid vaccinations 24/7 are being resisted by management consultants paid by the Government to speed up the programme, The Telegraph can disclose.

Ministers have been told by firms hired to help roll out jabs that there is little demand among elderly people for vaccinations around the clock, senior sources said.

It came as Simon Stevens, the head of NHS England, announced 24/7 vaccinations would be “tested” in some NHS hospitals within the next ten days.

Last week, Boris Johnson pledged that the NHS would launch a round-the-clock vaccination service “as soon as we can”.

However, Tamzen Isacsson, chief executive of the Management Consultancies Association, confirmed that firms had advised the Government that the plan was no “silver bullet,” and inappropriate for vulnerable groups.

“Our firms are really at the heart of the critical decisions being made by the Government,” Ms Isacsson told The Telegraph.

“They have advised that a 24-hour programme wouldn't be the answer to the problem at the moment.

“Getting elderly people to somewhere at 2am is just not physically feasible, practically.

“The constraint isn't that there's not enough hours in the day to vaccinate people. The supply of vaccine is good. The constraint is making sure that the right skilled staff who have been trained with this vaccine are in the right place to administer it.”

The Government has paid millions of pounds to at least 15 management consulting firms advising on the delivery of both the Oxford and Pfizer vaccines. Many of the same companies helped the Government roll out the Test and Trace programme, it is understood.

Ministers have come under increasing pressure from MPs and campaigners to deliver vaccines 24/7 after MPs and campaigners suggested there was a “clamour” among elderly people to receive jabs at any time of day or night.

Asked about the 24-hour rollout of the programme last week, Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, said: "We'll do this if it's needed, absolutely. We'll do whatever it takes to get this vaccine rolled out as fast as possible."

NHS England chief executive Sir Simon told the BBC on Sunday: “We will start testing 24/7 in some hospitals over the course of the next 10 days.”

But Ms Isacsson said expert management consultants had said the plan should be delayed until younger people were eligible to come forward.

“People criticise consultants but I have been told that we have sped up this programme by around six months in the UK,” she said.

“Our members are really proud to have played a part in that. They are experts in how to get things done as fast as possible.”

Last night the Management Consultancies Association said there may be more "potential benefits" to 24/7 vaccination as the government rolls out vaccines to the over 70s.

In December The Telegraph revealed that civil servants had spent millions of pounds on private sector contracts as part of the race to get Britain vaccinated against Covid.

Contracts include hiring a consultant from Berlin-based Biopharma Excellence for four months at a total cost of £102,000, in order to advise speeding up vaccine approval by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.

Meanwhile, the Vaccine Taskforce led by vaccine tsar Kate Bingham handed almost £4 million to management consultants tasked with logistics and negotiating with suppliers.

Westminster-based PA Consulting was awarded five contracts worth £2.5 million by the taskforce and is responsible for commercial negotiation.

Deloitte was also asked to help with commercial negotiations, and PwC worked on financial models of the vaccine market.

Ministers were criticised earlier this month after it emerged that NHS Test and Trace is employing 2,300 management consultants, with £375 million spent in total.

Dominic Raab, the Foreign Secretary, said the Government needed to administer jabs “at the maximum capacity that is deliverable”.

"Of course you have to get people to the centres, as well as setting them up – so that is something that we would need to test," he told the BBC.

A spokesman for the Management Consultancies Association said: “Consultancy firms have been brought in to support the NHS and local trusts at this critical time with the central vaccination programme to help maximise the roll out of the jabs to as many vulnerable groups as quickly as possible as well as improving the resupply process of vaccination to sites.

"Firms have been assisting with planning and logistics to expand the rollout with extended hours provided across the country including the addition of early morning and late evening slots as well as weekend work which is helping to improve the speed up of delivery.

“Now the government has announced it will be targeting the next two wave of groups, 3 and 4 the potential benefits of 24/7 vaccination hours and mass vaccination centres are stronger given there is more flexibility in the system now. The main constraint continues to be the lack of available staff that have been appropriately trained and are ready to administer it and there are understandable challenges with taking GPs off their frontline work in surgeries.

"The ultimate goal is to ensure there are vaccination sites within 10 miles for everyone in the UK and work needs to continue to ensure all geographies across the UK are developing their vaccination sites at the same speed.”