To think that the over 80’s Covid Vaccine is slow to materialise?

[Mincepie5]

I phoned the GP who signposted me to the local health board who signposted me to the GP again. No one seemed to know anything about a vaccination programme. I have emailed the local government and had a reply to thank me for my email that will usually be responded to in 15 days! Anyone in South Wales Aneurin Bevan area know what is going on with regards to this?

People have been specifically told not to ring surgeries - they will ring you when it's your turn. My mum is 80 and has cancer so high priority - she hasn't had a call yet but I certainly won't be badgering her surgery to demand an appointment.

Everyone I know who is 80 and older in various places in the UK have had their first vaccine, all this week.

There’s no more patient generation than the over 80’ s and upwards, I think their families just want to know more info.
I’m sure everyone behind the scenes is working exceptionally hard and it will be a massive undertaking , however track and trace was a disaster so we are naturally worried for much loved family that the govt and NHS authorities get this right.

Aneurin Bevan can't even staff their hospital, they declared an emergency and have cancelled everything. I'd be really surprised if they had anywhere near a grasp on a vaccine rollout.

@Chutneymaura

Rang surgery for my 95 year old mum today. Apparently they’ve used all their first batch vaccines now do she won’t get called till the new year. Names of all over 80’s were put in a random generator program in computer and hers didn’t come out. So it’s not really based on over 80 + how vulnerable/old it’s a simple lottery. I’m still processing this as it seems a bit weird.

That's just not true. It's certainly not what is happening where I am, it's definitely the most vulnerable and oldest getting it first.

The OP is being ridiculously impatient. Plus there has been news and information everywhere to say not to call your GP about it. So don't. People calling their GPs will just cause more work and slow everything down further.

We have 5 members of our family who are over 80 and 3 had the vaccination this week, 2 haven’t heard anything. Probably variable depending on area.

How about being grateful you live in the first country in the world to have authorised and start rolling out this vaccine to the general public? That, despite the huge logistical challenges involved in distributing it.

My MIL is in her 90s in the country where it was developed and she won't be getting hers for a while yet.

And please don't keep ringing people up for information yet. It's been only a few days since they started, give them a chance to get on with their jobs. Nobody should be pestering them unnecessarily at this time.

I’m not continuously ringing them up! I just think that at least someone at a managerial level would have thought to put out a statement to explain the plan in place.

I do agree with the op that there should be better information on how the plan is going to be rolled out in each area especially as it does seem completely different in various parts of the country.

I also wouldn’t trust the Welsh government to have a handle on this whatsoever (in Wales myself.)

The only information I know about the vaccines in my area is that the vaccines have been ‘paused’ after 9 NHS staff at the centre tested positive for the virus.

I know someone who has had the vaccine this week at their local GP

So if you aren't supposed to contact the gp and there are no contact details for anyone else what are you supposed to do if your relative has hearing problems or mild dementia and you think they will miss or misunderstand a call?

This isn't an uncommon issue in the over 80s group. I did try the GP and they knew nothing which wasn't reassuring.

By providing information they will have less calls to deal with. And frankly if their intended communication method is phone call to the elderly person the day before and a trip to unfamiliar place of course in a lot of cases relatives will need information too.

If nothing else they will probably need to drive their elderly relatives to the vaccination site.

what are you supposed to do if your relative has hearing problems or mild dementia and you think they will miss or misunderstand a call?

What do you usually do? They must need to get information on other things, in other ways. Is there a carer, are they part of the district nurse rounds?

But I expect each CCG is treating things differently, so ask them how they are managing the process for people who have impaired hearing and cognitive function.

plums I called my gp and they weren't that helpful but they did say all appointments would be sent by SMS and my 91 year old dad definitely wouldn't have access to a text! so they said I could register my phone number with consent from him and they will send the message to me.

My parents don’t have access to texts either. They do have an ancient brick phone but they never have it turned on, and when I asked them yesterday about whether it was registered with their GP they said they didn’t even know where it was.

If your relative has dementia and/ or needs help accessing healthcare then you can ring up the Gp and get yourself put down as first contact on their medical records at the GP as long as you either have their permission or you have LPA.
You've always been able to do this and lots of people do.

Lancashire:
My 84yo DM received a phone call on Tues to say she would receive the vaccine 22nd Dec. She’s had another call today to say the appointment has had to be cancelled due to supply problems.

However, it is what it is. The logistics of transporting/using this particular vaccine must be a nightmare.

@DougRossIsTheBoss

If your relative has dementia and/ or needs help accessing healthcare then you can ring up the Gp and get yourself put down as first contact on their medical records at the GP as long as you either have their permission or you have LPA. You've always been able to do this and lots of people do.

My parents don’t have dementia or any problems accessing healthcare. They use the phone to ring for appointments or get letters through the post about hospital appointments etc. They just don’t do texts. I’ll suggest again that they find their mobile and get it registered.

Our local hospital started the vaccination program today, Surrey.

There are 3.2 million over 80s in UK so it will take some time....

"I think it’s being administered incredibly fast!"

What? No it's not. Loads more could be given. We don't have the infrastructure.
2 GP surgeries I know have refused to take it saying that they don't have the -70° storage facilities.

1 local GP surgeries haven't even started making the appointments for the first round of people who have already had it to come back for the second dose in 3 weeks time. apparently the higher body at the NHS haven't given authorisation for this planning yet.

At kings college hospital last week they had loads of vaccines ready to be given to people and lots of people on the list didn't even turn up and they were running around like headless chickens trying to give them to nurses and anyone within the hospital who could actually have it . pandemonium it was.

It should be being churned out as much as is physically possible. Highest priority. The planning for how it was to be done, should have been done months ago.

Do you even know how many people have actually been given it? no because the fact is the government aren't releasing those figures. because if they did, if the public did find out that so few people had actually been given it by this stage, we would all be furious.

With better planning many more millions could've already had it and would have had it in between now and February. but this is simply not now happening and you are saying that we are being unreasonable and impatient?

you have got to be having a laugh.

More than 137 000 people had been vaccinated by the 16th of December, according to the the government. It’s not difficult to find that information. The first batch had 800 000 doses at with millions more to come. I assume that means that there was initially enough vaccine for 400 000 people. I don’t know if more batches have arrived.

In Birmingham my mum was commenting many over 80s were invited for vaccines yesterday (like literally everyone she knows in that age bracket in the area).

I think you may be being unreasonable, the NHS seems to be trying very hard to push forward with the vaccine program.