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Original poster

Has anyone in group 6 had any success using the NHS jab booking site?

275 replies

MyBossIsATwat · 15/02/2021 12:21

I am group 6 and have been checking at least once a day. I feel the urge to check about once an hour now and I know it’s not healthy!

Has anyone in group 6 been able to use it yet? I think I want the answer to be ‘no’ because then I can hopefully get over my obsession and resign myself to waiting to be contacted by my GP.

OP posts:
OverTheRubicon · 17/02/2021 20:27

@FebFrosting

I called 119 as heard nothing and 119 said they cannot book Group 6 and to contact our Gp. As our Gp have a “do not contact us policy” and receptionist staff will not allow anyone to talk to a Gp about vaccination or about anything just have an anxious few weeks waiting.

I will probably see two of my NHS consultants before I receive my vaccination now.

This is my experience too. Ridiculous, right?
Iremembertheelderlykoreanlady · 17/02/2021 20:30

Group 6. Had a text on friday and my jab today at a GPs.

Got the Pfizer (surprisingly) but would have been happy with anything!

I'm in Yorkshire

Hope you hear soon OP

Iremembertheelderlykoreanlady · 17/02/2021 20:30

...and everyone else who is still waiting Flowers

Sophiesdog2020 · 17/02/2021 20:34

No, I think the national hubs will keep working down the ages because that's straightforward to do. Group 6 is really complicated and needs to be managed by GPs. It would be really difficult for the national booking system to know who is group 6 and who isn't

The problem is that the GP surgeries won’t give any information out! I called my surgery today about a different matter, asked for confirmation that I am in Group 6 and was just told that they don’t have that information!

So who does? My DC were texted by the GP, so they must have been coded somehow.

Another surgery in our area has posted on FB - please don’t contact us re Group 6, even if you are sure you should be in it. We will contact you if you ARE in it.

In other words, if we don’t contact you, you are not in group 6.

What do people who are sure they are in group 6 (ie stroke/TIA) do if they are not contacted by their GP? Do they just have to miss having it?

Midlifephoenix · 17/02/2021 20:38

I'm group six as is my friend two miles away. She's been contacted and has her appointment tomorrow - I've heard nothing. Stop checking just wait to be contacted.

dontbefatist · 17/02/2021 20:44

"Group 6 here - I rang the local hub booking number and no problem at all booking in"
How do you find these numbers?

I know a pharmacy that is going vaccinations - do you think I could just call them?

Annoyingly the mass hub and the GP hub both have unbooked slots because not enough over 65s are booking appointments, but the GP won't move onto Group 6 yet.

Soverytiredtoday · 17/02/2021 20:55

GPs were asked to move to group 6 from this Monday. Some will have vaccine delivery this week and be able to start the clinics but it is extremely unlikely that they will have enough vaccine to do all their group 6 patients in the first week. For example our surgery has 1800 people in this group but this week we have only been given enough vaccine for 750 jabs. We chose to start with the oldest patients in this group. Next week we know that we will have another 750 vaccines to give at the end of the week but we haven’t started to invite these patients yet because we have been flat out giving this weeks vaccines today. So within 10 days we will have done 1500 of group 6.

If you haven’t been contacted yet, please hang on before contacting the surgery- it is really very unlikely (at this stage, 3 days in to this phase of the campaign) you have been forgotten.

HunterHearstHelmsley · 17/02/2021 20:58

West Midlands. My dad is group 6. He could book online (went through the questions etc and viewed available slots) but waited for the GP to contact as the site is closer. GP contacted him the following day.

Boulshired · 17/02/2021 21:03

I have two friends who thought they were coded as carers but in the last few days they have been told that they are down informally as carers but need the practices official carers form completed and this could take two weeks. The forms need to be sent by post and cannot be collected. One has a profoundly disabled child at the same practice.

Lleeaahh1992 · 17/02/2021 21:04

I dont know what group im in but im 28 years old with asthma and i got the text from my doctors today and i have booked in for saturday, but my mum who is 55 and has a high bmi and diabetes has not heard anything about hers Confused

Sophiesdog2020 · 17/02/2021 21:06

We chose to start with the oldest patients in this group.

I think that is logical, but our surgery are obviously doing it differently, as my 20 & 23 yo have been invited, whereas myself, in late 50s, hasn’t. We hadn’t even expected DS to have one, but he now has one booked!

All have same surname, so not done that way. It would just be nice to know what order they choose for sending the texts out.

dontbefatist · 17/02/2021 21:17

If the GPs have coded me as a carer, which they say they have, why doesn't the national booking site work for me?

I thought carers were supposed to be able to use the national booking site.

It makes much more sense to remove this identifiable group from the GP's workload.

ExpulsoCorona · 17/02/2021 21:21

@dontbefatist it's already been explained here. Carers are group 6, they will be done by the GP surgery/group of surgeries not the national hubs. The hubs are doing group 5.

ExpulsoCorona · 17/02/2021 21:23

I'm really surprised by how impatient people are. We're literally 3 days into the group. We haven't been told we can stop any of the day job. People are clogging up the phone lines with vaccine queries. We only find out about vaccine delivery on a Thursday/Friday before the vaccine arrives the following week.

Soverytiredtoday · 17/02/2021 21:26

Sophiesdog, I can’t speak for your surgery- different PCNs are using different systems to sort and invite. Some I know do it via postcode- do you all live in the same house? Some may be doing certain diseases at a time.
I presume you haven’t changed your mobile number/you are certain the GP has your number on your records. They should have a form on their website to allow you to update the number if you aren’t certain.

CrackOpenTheGin · 17/02/2021 21:28

@Sophiesdog2020

No, I think the national hubs will keep working down the ages because that's straightforward to do. Group 6 is really complicated and needs to be managed by GPs. It would be really difficult for the national booking system to know who is group 6 and who isn't

The problem is that the GP surgeries won’t give any information out! I called my surgery today about a different matter, asked for confirmation that I am in Group 6 and was just told that they don’t have that information!

So who does? My DC were texted by the GP, so they must have been coded somehow.

Another surgery in our area has posted on FB - please don’t contact us re Group 6, even if you are sure you should be in it. We will contact you if you ARE in it.

In other words, if we don’t contact you, you are not in group 6.

What do people who are sure they are in group 6 (ie stroke/TIA) do if they are not contacted by their GP? Do they just have to miss having it?

That’s ridiculous. I hate how GPs are made gatekeepers to everything particularly as there is usually a lot of incompetency and mistakes in their admin.

What a bloody cheek. It’s my bloody medical history. Surely I have a right to know what group I’m in just in cases they’ve made a mistake.

My surgery must hate me Grin I phoned up to find out which group I was in and was told it was group 6 so I asked if I could book in for a jab. They also said yes to that so I asked if I could book in for the Pfizer one not the Oxford. Again that was agreed and I’m off for it tomorrow. If you don’t ask you don’t get. And I would have absolutely kicked off if they’d have refused to even tell me what group I’m in. I should write in and complain if they refuse to tell you.

dontbefatist · 17/02/2021 21:29

It may seem impatient, but it is worrying to those with children that may go back to school in 2-3 weeks that the parents might not be vaccinated yet (or teachers) despite being classed as clinically vulnerable.

Plus the information is inconsistent and sometimes incorrect.

A day or so ago, the information was that carers would be managed by the national booking system not the GPs. So it is confusing when the national booking system website does not work for a carer. The carer doesn't know if their coding is not correct on their medical records or if the national booking system is not ready for them yet. The system just tells them they are 'ineligible' - not a very helpful version of 'computer says no'

But now the information is that carers won't go through the national booking system but through GPs after all. It is hard to find out the correct information.

dontbefatist · 17/02/2021 21:31

@CrackOpenTheGin Your GP practice sound fab

CathyorClaire · 17/02/2021 21:32

Group six dh contacted by GP yesterday and booked in at GP for Saturday. V. relieved.

CrackOpenTheGin · 17/02/2021 21:34

[quote dontbefatist]@CrackOpenTheGin Your GP practice sound fab[/quote]
It is very good. My last one was one of those shit ones that make it seem like they are doing you a favour answering the phone to you. Surely all practices should be as good as mine and we shouldn’t just be grateful for any crappy service. But it’s the ‘good old nhs so we can’t criticise’ Confused

CrackOpenTheGin · 17/02/2021 21:36

I find the way to get anywhere with GPs and the NHS in general is to just make a general nuisance of yourself. Keep phoning and keep complaining until you get a decent level of service. They give in in the end just to get shut of you. Always working for me.

ExpulsoCorona · 17/02/2021 21:37

Everyone is entitled to access their own medical records without clogging up phone lines. You download the NHS app (check your practice's website to see which one and how). Then feel free to check that your notes have the correct conditions coded. If they don't, write an email to your practice to update the records.

www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/gps/online-health-and-prescription-services/

We use the same phone lines to book GP/Nurse appointments, do telephone consultations and book Covid vaccines. We don't suddenly have a load more staff for this.

Sophiesdog2020 · 17/02/2021 21:40

Soverytiredtoday

Same postcode, same house, I had a text last week so they definitely have my contact details correctly. I can only assume they are doing the list by medical condition, but it rankles when DS didn’t expect one and now has one booked, whereas I know for certain I am G6 as history of TIAs!

CrackOpenTheGin

I agree, but the receptionist that I spoke to today tried to tell me they hadn’t even started sending texts, despite both my DC having received them! Unfortunately I am getting more information from FB posts by other surgeries than from ours.

I find it annoying that there is disconnect across the country. DH has a colleague around 50, he has admitted that he has no reason to have one early, who has been called.

Boulshired · 17/02/2021 21:40

Group 6 is the only group that is reliant on being coded but many not knowing if the have been coded without contacting their GP. They will only know if they were not in the correct group or have been missed when they find out their area has moved to a next group. For many it’s not just the wait but the not knowing.

CrackOpenTheGin · 17/02/2021 21:41

@ExpulsoCorona

Everyone is entitled to access their own medical records without clogging up phone lines. You download the NHS app (check your practice's website to see which one and how). Then feel free to check that your notes have the correct conditions coded. If they don't, write an email to your practice to update the records.

www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/gps/online-health-and-prescription-services/

We use the same phone lines to book GP/Nurse appointments, do telephone consultations and book Covid vaccines. We don't suddenly have a load more staff for this.

All very well and good but our patient access didn’t show what group you were in because I looked there first....another nhs incompetence. So then you have no choice but to ring up. If they had a decent system which worked for everyone and people had faith that no mistakes would be made then people wouldn’t have to ring up. But they don’t. So phone lines will have to get clogged Hmm