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Original poster

Vaccine shambles.

43 replies

Sexnotgender · 09/02/2021 15:41

Putting this in scotsnet as we’re in Scotland.

Daughter is clinically extremely vulnerable and on shielding list.

Received vaccination appointment for this week.

Today received a letter saying appointment was a mistake, vaccine isn’t being offered to under 16s so they’ve cancelled her appointment.

But she’s 17! Trying to get anyone to help is impossible. GP says just to turn up. But phoning vaccine centre they have no record of her CHI number.

It’s a shambles and no one knows what to do.

Has anyone experienced this?

OP posts:

NikkyNikky45 · 04/03/2021 06:16

@Seoirnbru I’d be grateful for your help as a gp. My son has type 1 diabetes and is my carer. He has been missed from the group 6 vaccination list. The vaccination helpline have sent 3 missing appointment forms to Lothian health board and no joy. Vaccine helpline said to phone Lothian health board which I did today, and they don’t have my son’s details. They took all his details and said to phone if he hadn’t heard anything in 2 weeks.
Is it the GP’s who have given list of people to vaccinate? Who do I speak to to put my son’s name onto the vaccination list? The vaccine helpline and Lothian health board both said group 6 appts booked on system up to end of April, so when my son is added to list he’ll need to wait for a cancellation. My son’s mental health is poor and this is so stressful knowing he’s not on the list for the vaccine. Be grateful for any advice or suggestions. I’ve emailed Nicola Sturgeon too.

Musicaltheatremum · 04/03/2021 06:51

I'm a Lothian GP. They take the lists from our systems but I have patients on the system who can't get their vaccine at the hubs as it isn't recognising them so there must be a fault somewhere in the data extraction. They joined our list early January so that could be it though my partner joined a new GP list at the end of Dec and he is in group 6 and got done fine. He's 62
I would advise MSP as we have no input into the system at the hubs.
GPs in Edinburgh are getting a lot of phonecalls about this and we can't do anything.
One point though, they are vaccinating in age order in group 6 so won't be at the younger end yet.

NikkyNikky45 · 04/03/2021 07:59

Thank you for your reply @Musicaltheatremum. We have been with our GP for 25 years so not sure what’s happened. What are you advising patients to do that aren’t on the mass vaccination list?
I’ve emailed MSP this morning.

Musicaltheatremum · 04/03/2021 08:09

Once we check they are on our list in the correct group we tell them MSP. I have also sent a few carefully worded emails to people in the health board urging them to sort it out!! I'm not sure about the electoral role for the data as my partner is still on the electoral role for his own house that he's moving away from but registered with a GP at my house and his vaccine letter came to my house so must be GP list. If your son is coded in his GP notes as type 1 diabetic he will automatically be pulled into group 6. The coding should be pretty accurate as our practice funding was based on the number of people in at risk groups and how we managed them so it's in the GPs best interests to have the "chronic disease" lists up to date.

NikkyNikky45 · 04/03/2021 08:15

@Musicaltheatremum thank you. I’ll phone our GP again. I phoned them last week and they just told us to phone vaccine helpline. Would you be able to give me the email you use to send details to health board? I don’t know where to go to get help. Thanks.

Musicaltheatremum · 04/03/2021 08:22

You just need to check with the surgery that your son is in group 6 on the clinical audit. The practice manager may be able to do that. If he's been diabetic for a while he will be on it.

NikkyNikky45 · 04/03/2021 08:31

@Musicaltheatremum thank you. I’ve phoned surgery and nurse is going to phone me. Doctors will not take call.

Musicaltheatremum · 04/03/2021 08:41

That's great! Nurse just as able to help no need for GP. Just ask if he is coded as diabetic in the notes. If he is he will be in group 6. Unfortunately past that there is nothing else the surgery can do so your next call is your MSP. we have had people phoning up several times wanting to speak with us and we have had to draw the line and say no more once we have dealt with the initial queries as we cannot get anywhere from our end ...we have tried.

NikkyNikky45 · 04/03/2021 08:59

@Musicaltheatremum thank you for your help.

Seoirnbru · 04/03/2021 19:58

I see @Musicaltheatremum got there before me and is local to you (I’m other side of country) - I would say though that the default helpline response of ‘speak to your Gp to sort it out’ when we actually have no ability to sort it out is universal! It’s damaging our relationships with patients as we are seen as the difficult people for not sorting it all out when we can’t actually do anything except check they have the right clinical code (ie that he has diabetes). We don’t make up lists of patients in group 6, they are extracted directly from our systems by diagnosis code or medication so somethings gone wrong with that data extraction.
I do hope he gets it sorted soon. Like @Musicaltheatremum we’ve had to have a blanket no on GPs taking calls about vaccines as we can’t actually help and we are incredibly busy just now. It’s not just being obstructive for no reason. Best wishes.

NikkyNikky45 · 04/03/2021 21:59

@Seoirnbru thank you for your reply. I appreciate you and @Musicaltheatremum taking the time to help.
I phoned our GP today and nurse confirmed that the coding record for my son is correct on their system. That was one thing ticked off. I then received a reply from our local MSP stating that he had contacted NHS Health Board today. Around 7pm, we received a phone call from head of vaccination saying that my son had been added to the list and he would receive a letter and appointment soon.
Very thankful for your help and MSP’s help.

Seoirnbru · 04/03/2021 22:02

Brilliant news!

NikkyNikky45 · 23/03/2021 12:58

@Musicaltheatremum I’d be grateful for your advice again as a I know you are a GP. I had the Astra Zeneca jag 5 weeks ago (I’m housebound) and nurse phoned me today to give me second dose. I said that the data says there needs to be a 12 week interval but she disputed this. Nurse informed me that the practice have received their batch of second doses and so I need to have mine within the next two weeks.
I phoned to speak to a dr for advice but was informed the nurse is dealing with vaccine enquiries.
Is it ok to have second dose of AstraZeneca 6 weeks after first? Thanks for your help.

ssd · 23/03/2021 13:05

It says on the astra zenica leaflet the 2nd dose will be given between 3 and 12 weeks after the first.

ssd · 23/03/2021 13:07

I wondered if the second dose is the exact same size as the first dose?

NikkyNikky45 · 23/03/2021 13:31

@ssd thank you for your reply. That’s reassuring then. Thank you.

Musicaltheatremum · 23/03/2021 14:50

@NickyNicky45 the green book states that the 2 doses should be a minimum of 28 days apart. So 6-8 weeks is fine. We are starting our 2nd doses this weekend which is 10 weeks for us but we need to get them given. The Pfizer should be 4 weeks but that's just because of the studies that were done. There's no real right or wrong here. My second one (Pfizer) was done at 10 weeks.
My daughter's boyfriend had a reaction to the Pfizer so is getting his second as Astra zenica in hospital. He's moved up from England so he's delayed by about a month so 16 weeks. The thing is there will be more and more data coming out over the next few months so at the moment we can just advise with the data we have. So you're good to go with dose 2

NikkyNikky45 · 23/03/2021 18:50

@Musicaltheatremum thank you for your reply I appreciate you taking the time. That’s reassuring to know it’s ok to have it. Nurse said she needs to come out next week, and that’ll be 6 weeks after my first dose.

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