55-59’s

[DinosaurDiana]

This morning I have been able to book my DH his two appointments on the NHS site.
It wouldn’t let me yesterday.
To all those waiting, try every day.

@irregularegular
Really unhelpful and selfish to have those who are not eligible overloading the system by logging in multiple times a day!

My friend has booked today, she’s 56. She has been trying once a day this week as it was pretty well known that they would be opening the bookings for the next group imminently.

And utterly pointless for you to copy and paste the front page of the website, it’s been out of date more or less since they set it up. They’re keen for you to use the website as obviously the big vaccination hubs take more filling than the GP centres, so if you book a hub that means you leave more space at the GP centres for those who find it difficult to travel.

I think if Glastonbury can manage to sell 250,000 tickets in less than an hour, the NHS should be able to cope with people in the next group checking every so often to see if they’re eligible.

Thanks OP: done mine, so excited!

First time I'd ever checked it and it said 56 and over. Booked immediately with no issues, other than mild disappointment that I have to travel rather than going to the one I can walk to. I'll take that.

Just booked mine, thanks for the alert. Happy to travel to a Mass vaccination centre further away and leave local one for people who can’t travel far.

I got a text from my GP today - I'm 56.. I booked online for Sunday evening.

Thank you! Just got OH age 58 booked in for Monday at a pharmacy location. His GP is also a local vaccine hub but seems to have a slow system, they had texted asking to text back if he wanted to book a vaccine a few days ago but then never replied when he texted yes. They probably won't like the loss of income as he's going elsewhere now but he couldn't be expected to hang around when empty places were available now.

Thanks for the heads up! Just booked mum in.

@time4anothername it's great that you got your DH booked in. As a GP I can assure you that your GP will be happy that he's getting done. The money generated from the vaccine barely covers staff/premises etc, the pharmacies are paid more per vaccine than the GP sites and have a more predictable supply of vaccine. We're really busy with group 6 and will soon be moving on to second doses. Our patients using the booking site is a great thing.

Thank you for the alert! Just booked both my appointments for end of March and mid June. I’m 57 later this month, btw.

In our area, 59/almost 60 year olds were treated with 60-65s

[quote ExpulsoCorona]@time4anothername it's great that you got your DH booked in. As a GP I can assure you that your GP will be happy that he's getting done. The money generated from the vaccine barely covers staff/premises etc, the pharmacies are paid more per vaccine than the GP sites and have a more predictable supply of vaccine. We're really busy with group 6 and will soon be moving on to second doses. Our patients using the booking site is a great thing.[/quote]
Good to know. It seemed a long winded system to text and ask if he wanted the vaccine before invite. Not sure what their next step will be but he will let them know of course straight away that he doesn't need it there (although it's closer to home he'd rather travel further and get it quicker)

Just booked thanks to this thread. I’m 57. Hadn’t even occurred to me to try booking till I saw this.

I have to say that this is Mumsnet at its greatest. I really wouldn’t have known about this and I feel such relief that I’ve got my first jab booked.
I’d heard that over 60s could book online but the situation is rapidly changing and it’s great to be able to book into one of the bigger vaccination sites and not wait to be called locally to the smaller ones. Living in a slightly rural market town I’m happy and completely able to travel and leave the smaller centres to those that need them.

Thank you so much OP for posting this as I’ve told lots of others who like me didn’t know it was possible to book on line at our ages. Well done and good luck to everyone with their jabs.

Thank you!! Tried now following the updates on here since earlier today.

Booked both myself and my DH (55 and 57). We’re in Surrey

@time4anothername it is a long winded system but makes it easier to focus on who to invite when we get our supply. We don't get much notice. E.g. on Thursday or Friday we find out what we will get next week and then need to fill nearly 1000 slots (between a group of practices). It's a bit easier now with text messaging but when we got our first supply in December, admin staff had to individually ring the patients and at the time only around 50% of patients were agreeing to have it (over 80s). The stats improved as more and more people got vaccinated because they could see that there didn't seem to problems post-vaccination but initially a lot of patients were worried. Your GP will receive a notification that he has received his vaccine but if they generate his invite before they receive this, he can just ignore it.

Thank you!!! Super excited to book mine just this minute for tomorrow. 56 years, thank you thank you!!!

It is very hit and Miss. I turned 50 a month ago and got my vaccination today. But I know people in their 60s who haven't had it yet.

Another one who’s delighted to have booked. Website officially open for bookings for people aged 56 and over.

www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/coronavirus-vaccination/

@AlwaysLatte Do you mind me asking what county you are in?

Still not available nationally, at 55. Must be regionalised

Odd that the site says 56 rather 55

@AlecTrevelyan006 Yes it’s odd isn’t it? I’m the eldest in one friendship group & just 56 so was able to book. The others are still 55. Though it does seem that people with all sorts of health issues are being called now, even if the issues seem irrelevant or long in the past.

That’s the quickest they have updated the front page of the booking site to reflect what’s actually happening behind the scenes and who it is letting through. Thats good because that front page was a big barrier for a lot of people booking who felt uneasy about it.

They seem to be booking further ahead now. That seems good too, as they know there are more supplies coming.

One thing I wonder, is if you book 3 weeks ahead if there is a bigger ‘no show’ rate, but they send a reminder text, so shouldn’t be a big issue.

Once people are booked, they feel much more positive.

Interesting that these upper 50s are booking for end of March. Makes me wonder if the 40s will actually start being done in March as predicted (maybe some areas) or whether they will just be offered by then and booking for mid or later April

We will see. Reminds me if one of those ElevenPlusForum threads where people predict how far downtime he waiting list the super selective schools will go.

I’m in mid March not the end. 13th.

Mine is for 9th March with the 2nd in the 3rd week of May.