Kids vaccination - why is it so difficult!

[Bearbookagainandagain]

Probably going to get flamed and told to make more of an effort, but I don't understand why it's so difficult to get my kids vaccines done every time.
The first couple as babies are usually fine, the GP contact us and we can make an appointment on time, and since I was on mat leave I didn't mind the it much.

But our GP surgery only does child immunisation clinics on random week days, usually Tuesdays or Wednesdays, when I'm meant to be in the office. It also mean that if they have side effects in the few days after, I need to plan for them to be sent home. I would much rather Thursdays or Fridays when we are home for the weekend anyway.

Clinics times are usually 1-3pm, right in the middle of their nap. It also means I have to take half the day off, because there is no way I can pick up, go to appointment (which is always 15-20 min late), and drop the kid back to nursery/childminder.

I have just requested an appointment from my son 3.4 immunisation: first availability is in a month. We are on holiday, can we have another date? Oh no, because they don't book appointments that early!

Last time they just kept giving me days I was not able to get out of work, he got them 6 months late. Everything is done through messages, I'll have to message every month until they give me a date I can finally get time off work.

I mean, surely there is a better way to do this? It's so frustrating for something that takes 5 min for a nurse to do!
I work from home 2 days a week, and don't work Fridays, I have plenty of opportunities to get this done if I could get an appointment then or later in the afternoon. But I depend on my GP to cooperate a little bit too...

I can't find any other way to get them done, even privately. Sorry for venting.

It may take five minutes to administer but the pre checks, preparation, documentation etc ensure that it is nothing like a five minute job. We have twenty and to do it properly use every minute of that.
Its incorrect assumptions like that, plus many many others, that frustrate GP staff leading to staff shortages which contribute to the problem you face. Practice nurses are leaving and retiring in droves too. And struggle to recruit.
And the reason we don’t book weeks in advance is because people use the appointments and don’t show up.
Having said that, some flexibility in their system should be considered.
Practice nurse.

When my younger DD had her preschool vaccination, the GP surgery basically saw her while preschool class over 2 days. No choice in appointments. Small village, there was less than 20 if them, but it was definitely efficient

If they did the clinic on the days you don’t work what would happen to the people who work on those days? It wouldn’t suit them. Unfortunately short of money means short of staff means the practice nurse has to fit the clinic in when she can around smears, blood pressure checks, diabetes checks, wound dressing and all the other clinics she has to run.

Hi op, there may be some services nearby that offer private vaccinations, they are much more flexible but they can be costly.

God I’d forgotten this as mine are older but you’re absolutely right. Given how important vaccine uptake is, you couldn’t have designed a system to be less helpful in the modern world. A date will appear - you will not know when - if you decline you may not rebook, but must wait until time has passed and it’s gone out of your head. Madness.

NHS appointments being missed is obviously a scandal, but some more effort to work with mums and their working days/ hours would be time well spent in terms of future NHS savings…

Sorry I've just re-read and you can't find any private options near you. That's a shame, there are loads by me but I do live near a big city. Hopefully your GP can try and be more flexible.

I find the set clinics annoying too. I’m part time so should be able to book them on my days off.

I’m so fed up of seeing gp’s surgeries getting a hard time. I’ve worked in one for 20 years and I can tell you our clinicians go above and beyond for patients. Our senior partner drove a 7 week old baby to a&e last Friday evening due to a 4 hour wait for a category 2 ambulance (baby had query meningitis). This was after we closed at 6pm as baby was not our patient but pharmacy had sent over as was concerned)
Yes there are designated times for clinics for childhood immunisations but that is to ensure we alway have enough vaccinations in stock and that there will definitely be a GP on the premises in case of an emergency.
I can’t tell you how many appointments for childhood immunisations are booked and not attended for each week.
I understand your frustration but no matter when we hold clinics someone is unhappy.
I hope you get your child sorted before they start school.

They do seem to be entirely set up for children with a stay at home parent.

I managed to get daughters sorted by getting an on the day cancellation. If you can find out what days they do the clinic on and call those days that you could make then might help a bit.

Although, I expect to need to use leave for it, and given the side effects come at different times over the next four weeks the day of the week doesn’t make much difference.

Most of these points are valid, but nap times are completely irrelevant.

Or set up for the fact they need to happen during the working day as that's when doctors/nurses are at work!

Our system locally works okay; vaccination clinics are always on the same day each week as they're organised centrally for the whole council area and they have set days for attending specific GP surgeries. If you get an appointment through and you can't go, you ring up and they book you a new one - they normally try and get you in at the beginning of the day if you ask so you can drop DC off at nursery afterwards. I've never needed this, but I think they'd let you go to a different location if you couldn't make the one at your own surgery. When it's seasonal vaccinations like flu they'll also run drop-ins in various locations.

Not all nurses work with child patients so our practice only has paediatric nurses twice a week, hence baby clinic is 2 session per week both 1-3pm so parents with older children can get to pick up time at 3.20pm. They know how many children are on their books so know how many appointment slots are needed, those nurses are at other practices on other afternoons and in the morning the treatment rooms are used for bloods etc that need same day turnaround

Ultimately, vaccination clinics are not planned around your WFH days, working hours, nap schedule or holiday plans.

I’m not sure it’s actually the GP being uncooperative if they have weekly appointments available but it took you 6 months to find one of those dates that worked for you. Your work really wouldn’t let you book a half day of holiday on any one of those dates for 6 months?

I think you should legitimately be able to take the time off work as a medical appointment. Vaccinations are vital to your child's health and to the public health of the wider population, so I can't think why these appointments wouldn't be seen as medical appointments. Just speak to your manager and explain the situation.

Or are there any children's centres or Family Hubs where HV clinics take place within your local authority? They might accept a drop-in, as long as you took your child's red book.

I also suspect that if you just turned up at your GP at the beginning of the vaccination session then they would just fit you in after a wait, as there probably would be a cancellation at some point. If not, then go back the following week...

Regarding naps, you could get them asleep in the car or pushchair, then they could have the jab while asleep or just waking up. Not nice at all for them I know, but the jab needs to happen.

But you are right, there is a real disconnect between what the health service requires of people (especially parents) and what employers recognise as a legitimate reason to be off work; work that either our cost of living or benefits system expects parents to undertake...

My DC recently had a situation requiring follow-up appointments on alternate days for an extended period of time; appointments that I had to beg, plead for and drive miles to access. The practitioners were great but there was absolutely no proactive coordination from the NHS - if I hadn't proactively arranged these appointments myself we would still be waiting for a follow-up call from primary care after leaving hospital. I just thank my lucky stars that I wasn't working at the time!

I don’t know any 3 year olds who nap.

Look up the reaction time frames for the MMR because they’re at 3 seperate times and I don’t think anyone of them are in
the first few days.

You suspect wrong.
Please do not just ‘turn up’ and expect to be ‘just’ fitted in. Cancellation or not. And do not repeat this weekly.
And there are multiple jabs.
And HV are very unlikely to be vaccinating these days.
Dear God. This is why we are pulling our hair out in primary care.
Where’s dad in all this?

I’m not really sure what you want, them to change the day so you’re off? I am a vaccination nurse and 4 people did not bring their kids today so I was sat doing admin. We are a big team so go to different clinics on set days - Scottish so it’s a vaccination team in the gp rather than their own staff vaccinating.

We text beforehand to confirm appointments and we can shuffle things about or move you to another practice if they accept non registered patients but we also need to have a nurse , enough vaccine, your old notes with up to date imms history etc I do think we make it as flexible as possible but it’s 5 mins of life to protect your child and you being away or nap times doesn’t really factor in to my thinking when I’m asking someone to come for an appointment. I also wouldn’t just show up, you could phone the day of clinic and ask if there are any cancellations at a better time for you but I would not see someone who just rocked up to be seen when they felt like it.

During the working day I have no issue with.

During the working day, with a maximum of ten days notice, and usually less than a weeks notice I do think is creating an unnecessary level of disruption for working parents. Appointment comes via post, and are sent at most two weeks before the clinics. Done a fortnight at a time so if you’re lucky you’re in the second week and get ten days notice. If can’t make it. Phone up and cancel and wait for new short notice letter to come through. I have no idea how people who work in primary care get their kids vaccinated without calling in favours.

And as another poster commented, then regular complaints from local health services about no shows.

(and text reminders, which are so cryptic it’s nigh on impossible to work out what it’s for if your number gets used for more than one health service interaction at a time).