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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:
Rainallnight · 17/02/2021 23:07

Can anyone give me some advice? I’m an asthmatic with a previous hospital admission. When I queried with GP whether I’d be in group 6, they said they had no record of my admission but that if it had happened, it would be on hospital coding so I’d get called. They basically implied it was nothing to do with them.

But the gist of this thread is that GPs are in charge of group 6.

What should I do?

Rollergirl11 · 17/02/2021 23:21

@ExpulsoCorona yep I agree, it’s still VERY early days. But I think it’s more that people are concerned about the reliance on GP practices and there being potential for human error which could result in people being missed. I’m not really sure why that would be the case but just saying that’s the impression I get. 🤷‍♀️

Rainallnight · 17/02/2021 23:31

@Rollergirl11 it’s definitely looking like that’s the case with me because there’s a mistake on my records

TheGoodEnoughWife · 18/02/2021 06:33

I think there is a concern about the lack of communication or chance for discussion with the GPs, all over my surgery website is 'don't contact them' so the chance to discuss whether you are in the correct group is lost and that is worrying and frustrating for people.

(I am another who uses patient access but it doesn't have my notes on)

I, and am sure others, are happy to wait their turn as long as they know their turn is correctly identified.

FallenSky · 18/02/2021 06:39

@ExpulsoCorona I have rheumatoid arthritis but I don't see that on my list of "medical conditions" through the patient access app. The closest thing I can see on there is "arthralgia of multiple joints". I got a letter from the NHS a few months ago asking me to go for a flu jab so presumably it's on my notes somewhere? Just wondering now whether I should be emailing them to make sure it's on my record... Obviously my medication is on there as well as all the letters from my rheumatologist. But just looking at the medical conditions part does not seem as though I would be in group 6! I was originally asked to shield last year before I came off the steroids to lower my risk. I hope I'm group 6.

OverTheRubicon · 18/02/2021 07:24

Agree with what @TheGoodEnoughWife said.im happy to wait while someone more vulnerable within group 6 gets vaccinated, but my condition does make me more vulnerable, I'm a single mum with kids likely back at school soon and I don't want to have to wait until they roll out to yet another group to find that I was forgotten - and my friend who is younger than me and a mild asthmatic was surprised to get a text from our GP when she said she doesn't fit any criteria, so I'm a bit concerned.

fizzyp0p · 18/02/2021 08:19

My GP are telling me nothing
I'm type 1 diabetic
Have to go to work daily
And scared
Hey ho

Beaniecats · 18/02/2021 08:43

Putting the GPs in charge of 6 is a mistake I think
I learned from an epilepsy society update this week patients with epilepsy are being told they do not come under group 6 when quite clearly under the guidance for this group they do.

MadisonAvenue · 18/02/2021 08:58

@Beaniecats

Putting the GPs in charge of 6 is a mistake I think I learned from an epilepsy society update this week patients with epilepsy are being told they do not come under group 6 when quite clearly under the guidance for this group they do.
I’m in a Facebook group for the (usually insignificant, pre-Covid) hereditary condition we have and a couple of people posted last night saying that they’ve been told by their GPs that they don’t fall in group 6 whereas other members have been getting shielding letters.
Beaniecats · 18/02/2021 09:10

I know Epilepsy Society were arranging an urgent comms to GPs over this but our GP has been conspicuous by absence this last 12 months not expecting I'll hear anything.

SendMeHome · 18/02/2021 09:35

Me and DH woke up to texts inviting us to book under group 6 this morning. He has CP, but I’m not sure why I can book... it’s all online (not through the NHS portal, though), and we can choose between two places. Earliest date is next Friday.

I think I’ll push DH to have it but I’m going to try and speak to the doctors today to make sure I’m not a mistake. I do have some of the risk factor conditions but I have never been advised to shield.

Piggywaspushed · 18/02/2021 09:39

I tried the NHS App which says I am all sorted but I can't get on to it... hey ho.

I know I shouldn't be impatient for DH but we live in an area that was being notoriously slow anyway so hopes are not high. The receptionist at GP is very dismissive and makes him feel like he is fussing. At the end of the day, he is group 6 so it would be helpful to be told by GPs what their rationale is for the order they are working through Group 6.

DH is a teacher so it would be good to get him done, obviously!

WombatChocolate · 18/02/2021 09:45

Sendmehome.....just book for yourself too. The system has identified you and if you query it, it will use more time and resources looking into it than if you just go and get done too.

Dont worry...the system has a way of working it out and the responsibility isn't on you.

SendMeHome · 18/02/2021 09:52

@WombatChocolate Thank you, that makes sense...

Both booked in for next Saturday. Pretty easy process... different to when we did it for MIL last week, she could book both jabs, we’ve only got the first and it says we’ll be contacted about the second, but we’re booked in and it was smooth.

I hope everyone waiting gets contact soon.

Abraxan · 18/02/2021 10:21

patient access will show you which conditions are coded on your notes.

My PA app doesn't show me this.
It shows me my appointments and it shows me my repeat medication, but that's it.

Abraxan · 18/02/2021 10:24

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

But why is it? It shouldn't be any harder than group 4, who can use the national web link to book. It could also be argued that generally people in group 6 are more likely to be more mobile and more able to attend hubs further away and at shorter notice.

Group 6 is flagged on medical records. It should simply be a case of those names and contacts being pushed to the national site, and thereby allowing access to the site.

It,shouldn't be any more difficult to do than group 4.

Piggywaspushed · 18/02/2021 10:28

I think, fairly uniquely, group 6 is open to interpretation as we have seen with 'types of asthma', 'types of heart disease'. Someone at a presser spoke of 'relationship with GPs' so GPs being best placed to manage this group (not sure if that was spin).

My DH has no relationship with his GP at all (not a criticism of the GP as such although my local one is ridiculously over stretched and so falls short on quite a few things ). Everything is managed by hospital and consultant. Hence being bunged off flu jab list.

rainbowdashsneeze · 18/02/2021 10:28

I can't access it either but my GP sent me a text with a link to book my vaccine the day after the announcement.

Piggywaspushed · 18/02/2021 10:29

DH was told 'well you certainly aren't going to be this week'. So, that's him told!

Jocasta2018 · 18/02/2021 10:32

No invite yet.
I was on the phone to my GP surgery yesterday about something completely different & just mentioned if I was going to have a jab as Group 6.
They checked & I'm going today as there was a space although haven't yet formally received a letter or text yet.

dontbefatist · 18/02/2021 10:45

@Piggywaspushed

DH was told 'well you certainly aren't going to be this week'. So, that's him told!
Same, except it was more like several weeks.

Each GP has set its own priorities for inviting within Group 6, which seems inherently unfair and based solely on one person's opinion (usually the practice manager).

If I was to have an opinion, it would actually not to start with those who are oldest in Group 6, but those who have school-aged children so that they will be protected when their DC go back to school in 2-3 weeks. That is an exposure that cannot be avoided and can easily be verified (even if it is manual, as even being in Group 6 seems to involve manual checking if the national booking system cannot be used).

Piggywaspushed · 18/02/2021 11:01

Yeah, to me, the older people have their won group awaiting them and coming up sooinish,too so doing it by age does seem easier but maybe a bit faulty in its logic. I assume within group 6 there are those at more clinical risk than others (eg diabetics) so maybe they start with the highest clinical risk. I really have no clue. Just have to cross fingers and hope soon for DH who is not keen to return to classroom unvaccinated when he knows he could have been. It is a very big group, though.

Piggywaspushed · 18/02/2021 11:01

won not won!

Piggywaspushed · 18/02/2021 11:01

OFGS, you know what I mean!

WombatChocolate · 18/02/2021 11:03

I'm keen to get mine too as I am group 6.
However, am recognising it's a massive group and some people who are now new to shielding this week have been pushed to the top of that group. I'm not one and I'm very grateful for that, so accept that I will be nearer the bottom of the list, plus my local area don't seem to be at the front of any of the progress through the groups.

Therefore, although I hopefully look at my phone quite regularly for a text, in reality, I expect it will be March before I'm called.

No system will please everyone and within any category they have to work through it...alphabetically, or by address or condition, or age or whatever. It's an admin nightmare and I think we just have to let them get on with it. I expect they are inundated with people in group 6 or those who aren't sure if they are in group 6 contacting them. Probably more regular updates on surgery websites might help reduce the calls...but people would ring anyway.

Trying to be patient and just stay at home....haven't been in a shop since Christmas (online food shopping) plus am working from home at the moment. I expect all of us Group 6 people will have had it in the next month...it will pass.