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Original poster

Empty Vaccinations Centres

99 replies

Bilgepumper · 28/02/2021 15:25

I keep hearing about appointments going spare, no queues and empty centres. The only answer is to open the appointments up to all adults. This would stop vaccines being wasted and staff having nothing to do. The best way forward is to get as many people vaccinated as quickly as possible.

OP posts:
Cookie9214 · 28/02/2021 18:05

They are getting busier now! A few weeks ago I was told they were really quiet. After the elderly, frontline workers and CEV people were vaccinated it went quiet until they fully started group 6. The centre near me seems really busy now we are into group 6 as it covers a lot of people! Every area is at a different point!

LindaEllen · 28/02/2021 18:08

Ours was quiet too, DP was in and out on Wednesday.

Vaccinations are slowing. We're using up our allocation. We don't have an infinite supply to keep them going.

Patience.

We will all get one!

SydneyPlace · 28/02/2021 18:18

Must say I'm a bit puzzled too. Locally people with no health needs in the 40 age bracket and some in their 30's saying they have had the vaccine, yet people 50 & 60+ saying they haven't.

A friend of ours 38, healthy, nothing else to flag up but vaccinated. How and why when older people haven't had theirs?

MerylStropp · 28/02/2021 18:19

Our local hospital trust tweeted the info that our county was vaccinating over 60s, but I see on the BBC website letters are going out starting Monday to 60 to 64 year olds. Its a shame the misleading front page isn't updated, or that there isn't a better system to get the word out.
Yes - just needs someone to go into the site and change one character and they'd get a lot of response! Hmm

RestingPandaFace · 28/02/2021 18:38

Our local CCG are now up to group 8.

Puzzledandpissedoff · 28/02/2021 18:44

I'm 64 and also in the same East Midlands, Bilgepumper. I booked my jab online last Tuesday, for the following day - and all slots were available

The place was practically deserted when I got there at 1.50pm, and the volunteer marshals said it had been like that most of the day

Shrivelled · 28/02/2021 18:46

At the moment there are 2 different vaccination systems running. One system is done by age and vaccines are given at big vaccination centres, the other system is being run by GPs to identify clinically vulnerable patients who have to be invited by letter and can’t book online. The two systems are running at different rates and vaccines are being given at different locations in my area. There may be large vaccination centres that are a little quiet but there are plenty of clinically vulnerable patients being vaccinated at the smaller GP centres where I live.

Puzzledandpissedoff · 28/02/2021 18:47

Our local hospital trust tweeted the info that our county was vaccinating over 60s, but I see on the BBC website letters are going out starting Monday to 60 to 64 year olds

Typical BBC ... as said I got my jab last Wednesday having booked online, and ironically the letter arrived the next day

OrangeBananaFish · 28/02/2021 18:54

DH gets carers allowance and had a letter from NHS to book a vaccination so he did, but he couldn't get one for 2 weeks!!!! This is at a mass vaccination centre. So it must be a postcode lottery as the one near us had nothing until then.

FiveFootTwoEyesOfBlue · 28/02/2021 18:56

Our local large vaccination centre (in the SE) was very quiet for a while because of an IT glitch, and then I think because anecdotally people in the vulnerable group were getting sent appointments by their GP to other hubs. As soon as they unofficially opened it up to 60-64s it got busy again.

I think there is also an element that because GPs are now paid per vaccination, they have an incentive to get their patients done by their own hub rather than the national one, and they're in charge of inviting the vulnerable, so they don't tell them about the national centre. Or did the govt tell them they have to do the vulnerable group themselves?

FlibbertyGiblets · 28/02/2021 19:02

Okay, thank you, Di, understood.

I shall remain perplexed (business as normal, harhar!)

ArnoldBee · 28/02/2021 19:03

Handy tip if you're in Facebook - Like your local CCG page as they update it with the swift queue link and which cohort they are opening up the appts to. Through this I have been able to advise family members who have been able to have jabs before their letter arrives. This is not queue jumping as my CCG are actively encouraging folks to do this so slots aren't wasted. I can literally get immediate slots within 20 mins of my house.

PinkTonic · 28/02/2021 19:04

@Shrivelled

At the moment there are 2 different vaccination systems running. One system is done by age and vaccines are given at big vaccination centres, the other system is being run by GPs to identify clinically vulnerable patients who have to be invited by letter and can’t book online. The two systems are running at different rates and vaccines are being given at different locations in my area. There may be large vaccination centres that are a little quiet but there are plenty of clinically vulnerable patients being vaccinated at the smaller GP centres where I live.
Well they need to sort their shit out because the CV are getting left behind in some areas, my DH being one of them. If it’s true the over 60s can book online from Monday that would have been quicker!
WombatChocolate · 28/02/2021 19:05

Group 6 who are moderately vulnerable do t go to the mass centres but are done via their GP hub.

One reason why the mass centres are often quiet is the people who qualify don’t take the appointments that are available to them. They say they want the jab really quickly but won’t travel. Then there are empty slots at the mass centres. It means the mass centres take longer to move into later groups and the local GP hubs do too as they have to sweep people up. It creates bottlenecks in the system, but most people do t seem to consider the encouragement to book as soon as you are invited (ie to the place you are offered) or the impact not taking those places has on the whole system.

My DH won’t get his jab until group 10. I will be watching out for when the national booking system starts taking under 50s and we will be on there booking as a soon as possible. We will take wherever is offered and take the earliest appointment. I know we do t have to wait for a letter and if the system accepts he, is eligible. Yes, there will be closer GP hubs and if doesn’t book at the mass centre, those slots will sit empty and the GP will sweep him up later. Not only will the mass centres not be progressing so fast, but the GP will be slowed down by having to deal with him and Group 9 will have to wait a bit longer to get theirs.

Of course some people in their 80s and 70s couldnt travel and some people couldn’t travel who had medical conditions. But there is too much of the healthy adults who can travel choosing not to.

Kazzyhoward · 28/02/2021 19:08

@CuriousaboutSamphire

Wasted capacity is down to a bump in vaccine availability. There's nothing anyone can do about that.

Our local GP surgery is not running this weekend, it has no vaccines, and is still working its way through the 70+, we have a very large older population and a lot of all sorts of care homes, supported living houses.

I expect they'll work next weekend, when they have vaccines they work flat out and have very few missed appointments.

There'll be different patterns all over the country.

But quiet vaccine centres won't be because nobody wants the jab.

There are indeed differencies around the country. Myself and DP have just had ours today (we're in our mid 50's). The room was full of similar aged people - no "oldies" were there at all. They said they're likely to be opening up to the next groups in a couple of weeks time and if they continue the numbers as they're doing now, they'll have all adults invited for their first doses by end of May, could even be sooner. This is for a small town with a few surrounding villages.
WombatChocolate · 28/02/2021 19:10

Over 60s can book online NOW. You do t have to wait until Monday, or for a letter or for the front page to change from saying over 64s. The system lets people in that category book now (not if they are in group6)

itsgettingwierd · 28/02/2021 19:43

Mulling over the replies here this could work out well in a round about way Grin

So the group 6 lot (my ds and would have been as carer but had mine weeks ago thought work) are waiting for GPs.

But...... many of those will be in the 60+, 55+,50+ groups etc (you get the point!)

So theoretically the over 60's who are also group 6 and go to vaccinating centre are reducing the size of group 6? And so on down the ages.

My ds is only 16. He won't ever be able to book via nhs website so it's his group 6 invite or he's missed.

But he see his neurologist in April and if he isn't called by then I'll ask if he can arrange it!

EveryDayIsADuvetDay · 28/02/2021 19:49

I went to the Francis Crick Institute near Kings Cross - very quiet, only one vaccination station out of four open (could have been more than that, could only see four), no queues.
Arrived home to hear their director on R4 news saying they were operating at 5-10% of capacity; I can only assume that in part it's because it isn't a hugely residential area.
That they're not operating at capacity doesn't mean they are pouring the vaccine away.

Testing centres near me are very empty as well.

PuzzledObserver · 28/02/2021 20:24

the other system is being run by GPs to identify clinically vulnerable patients who have to be invited by letter and can’t book online

I was invited via the GP system as group 6 - I got a text which contained to an online booking system, but a different one to the national one. I had no choice of venue and could only book the first appointment - once I’d done that, the page said I would be contacted again when it is time to book my second appointment.

MerylStropp · 28/02/2021 22:02

Age on booking site just changed to 60!

Rillington · 28/02/2021 22:28

@ArnoldBee not all areas use SwiftQueue for booking. Here we have booking through the local Primary Care Network website.

@Layladylay234 were you at Stoneleigh? I know a few people who have been there and it has been dead.

Lurkingforawhile · 28/02/2021 22:36

@PurpleCrocuses it may not help for the vaccine this time but have you filled in the page for CEV on gov.uk? That should match up with your medical records and then if we need regular (bi-annual for example) jabs you'll be on the right list. I assume you're in group 6 rather than not in any group except age group? Good luck!

FlyingBurrito · 28/02/2021 22:43

Well they need to sort their shit out because the CV are getting left behind in some areas, my DH being one of them. If it’s true the over 60s can book online from Monday that would have been quicker!

Haven't there been threads for about a week saying that the NHS system was accepting 60+, you don't need to wait @PinkTonic you can do it now

stuckasastuckthing · 01/03/2021 04:02

@SilverGlitterBaubles

Lots of people who have been careful up to now so not want to go and queue up at a busy mass vaccination centre. Like my PIL they preferred to wait a week and have the jab at their local GP practice rather than in their words 'face a hall full of people'.
I think that this could be a misconception on the part of some though, that the GP centres are smaller / quieter. Ours is vaccinating on behalf of several local surgeries and doing 1,000 people a day. Some of the centres available through the NHS website are bigger, but others are actually smaller
Calmasasleepycat · 01/03/2021 05:17

Yes, our GP centre includes all the surgeries in our town and is in a local community hall. I was offered the appointment via a phone call from my GP surgery. I hadn’t been able to book through the NHS website (it just said not yet eligible). I managed to book DH through the NHS website. His jab was at a very small pharmacy.