Chat about Novel Coronavirus - 2019-nCoV - COVID-19

Of course. However seems more like another judgement on others rather than anything actually helpful.

I’d also suggest if people have been booked in whilst on the phone or after calling, that clearly the process has room for improvement or has been designed to accommodate this.

She also pointed out that there's not much point calling your GP anyway because everything is being run centrally in the primary care network not GP's surgeries...

That wasn't my parents experience. My father (79) called their GP about something else to do with my mother (80) in December. While he was on the call they offered my mum a vaccine appointment. When they got to the vaccination centre my father was offered an appointment 'to save an extra trup'.

(My mum has Alzheimer's and does very little on her own / for herself)

So it seems there is a lot of local variation.

Royal College of General Practitioners.

thats there the laps start!

Moral of the story: Dont listen to radio

NI seems to stick to same list as the rest of the UK.

I'd imagine MS is extremely vulnerable is that case on UK list?

Not heard any gossip but at work nearly all of us have to wait until September.

My partner has asthma but not "bad" so he's not in the list.

Teacher friend has had hers as their school are being called in at the end of the day to use up any excess doses.

Thanks, and I'm sorry to hear about your dad

Thanks. She got the death certificate yesterday and will be doing that to get all relevant organisations informed. She also has access to his bank account where he had savings to pay for the (modest) funeral.

In terms of his estate - three children who have all agreed that he would have wanted it split equally between them. As long as access to everything is easy with the death certificate, I assume it's relatively straight forward? What if there were a challenge?

The problem with what she said is that it isn't everyone's experience, as others have said, and people have contacted their GP and then been offered a vaccine - presumably when their supply exceeds confirmed bookings. The fact that some areas are pushing on with under 80s instead of that supply being diverted to areas that are struggling is bad enough, but the fact that it's happening within the same area is shitty.

The bigger issue though is that the very people who are being prioritised are anxious and vulnerable, and patience may be difficult. My dad turns 90 in 2 weeks, is blind and very dependent on my 86 year-old mum and has diminishing short-term memory. Consequently he is repeatedly asking my mum if they've been invited to have their vaccine yet, maybe the letter's gone missing, check the answerphone, etc., which adds to her own anxiety. Waiting patiently for their GP to contact them, when they know other younger people in their own area have already had their vaccine, isn't an acceptable option.

re. hospitals reaching out

In Camden area there are three vaccination programs in place; hospital hubs, GP+community hubs and outreach going into old peoples/care homes.

These are separately managed but operating under the national priority framework but with the >80 yo all being done by GP+Community hubs till now.

The hospital hubs have now nearly vaccinated all eligible health + social care workers with their first dose and so are opening some capacity to the other priority groups

Is anyone on here not going to have the vaccine?

WARNING WARNING WARNING
ANTI VAX KLAXON ANTIVAX KLAXON
WARNING WARNING WARNING

She did say it varies a lot around the country, but presumably that's Guys acting in their PCT role and doing it the way they see fit because they have the capacity (and some kind of central number, not a GP's surgery)?

At a guess me, no clinical reason to have as I have had covid with few symptoms. But given the choice since the gov decided against the medicines usage there really is no point IMO.

Not anti vaxer as such.

However seems more like another judgement on others rather than anything actually helpful.

It's trying to make people realise that if you call the NHS because they haven't contacted you yet you are adding to the strain of a system which is already overwhelmed.

We are running a vaccination centre at work and my frustration partly comes from seeing our staff having to deal with enquiries from people who have not been contacted yet when the focus should be on vaccinating as many people as possible.

Is anyone on here not going to have the vaccine?

Only if there's a tory fuck up

How long after the vaccine can I expect 5g and nanobot based immune system?

It's the auto upload to Strava that I'm interested in.

Like just about everything in this pandemic what's needed is clear communication from government, all we're getting is we're doing such a great job on vaccinating, how wonderful (and trying to claim it as their success when it's not, it's the NHS, local authorities, other organisations, volunteers etc. making it happen). And no clear messages on how it works or what you should do.

I sympathise with your dad's situation of course, but realistically the over 80s were never going to all be vaccinated in one go and the decision to start vaccinating people in their 70s has exacerbated the age inequality situation.

No more sweaty smelly HR strap!!

I was on a weekly all staff briefing yesterday and the vaccine Q&A bit was still an absolute shitshow of conspiracy Facebook nonsense even amongst NHS staff :(

I don't disagree and my example is clearly personal, although in no way unique.

It pisses me off that getting the word "lumpy" in early seems to excuse huge local and regional variations and a failure to do anything about it.

With regard to communication - and again this is anecdotal - it, like many other things is being managed best locally. My charity has staff and volunteers speaking to isolated and vulnerable older people regularly to try to help them with their concerns (in several different languages), as well as helping at the vaccination centre and ensuring people get there. No fucker is giving us a penny to do this.

This lack of clear communication is evident even in hospitals, at least down my way, where there has been no schedule of vaccination published. This means that the 'free-for-all' self-booking system breeds discord, even between admin and clerical staff in same office.

Your original post missed any of that nuance.

With people’s experiences here processes are either not working or built to accommodate this.

I agree on communication however there is a general sentiment expressed, not just your post, but on the forum that the government deserve no praise and the NHS no criticism for how well or badly the vaccination programme is going.