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"Flu vaccination programme"

About: NHS Lothian

(as a service user),

My 86 year old Mother has been given an appointment to attend for her flu vaccination to a large venue out of town.  There is not information about how close parking is to the venue or how far she might have to walk within the venue.  

I have phoned the GP to try and arrange for her to have a home visit as this appears to be the only recourse in this situation.

I appreciate that this is a mass vaccination programme, but who thought it was a good idea to arrange appointments for the elderly and disabled at out of town venues?  Many elderly people do not have relatives to take them and may also not have anyone to advocate for them.  I am perfectly willing to take her, but I have grave reservations about her ability walk within the venue.

This has undoubtedly been intended to save work for the surgeries, but it seems it will likely increase their workload to arrange home visits.  A ludicrous situation that has been ill conceived.  Not everyone falls into the category of being able to be herded into a mass programme.

I have had to come here to vent, because I have been told that NHS inform are not dealing with any feedback or complaints other than those related to Covid 19! This situation requires urgent review.  The surgeries managed to provide Covid vaccinations for patients over the age of 80.  Obviously, it required some out of the box thinking and logistics, but was successfully achieved. However, I suspect the cost of that programme may be an issue.  Maybe instead of paying exorbitant rates to retired GPs, Dentists, Opthalmologists  (most of whom will never have given a vaccination before in their lives), whilst I might add, not even paying overtime rates to the nursing staff who carried out most of the vaccinations in the surgeries, it might be more achievable!

Please urgently review this situation.

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Responses

Response from Louise Davies, Patient Experience Officer, Patient Experience Team, NHS Lothian 2 years ago
Louise Davies
Patient Experience Officer, Patient Experience Team,
NHS Lothian
Submitted on 01/10/2021 at 17:20
Published on Care Opinion at 17:23


picture of Louise Davies

Dear Clachtoll

I am sorry to hear of your concerns regarding the flu vaccination programme and the lack of information provided regarding your mother's appointment. Thank you for taking the time to share your experience and feedback, I would like to apologise for the delay in responding to this. I can assure you that this has been sent to the relevant team who are responsible for the programme to review.

I hope that in the meantime your mother's GP has been able to arrange a more suitable appointment for her.

Best wishes

Louise

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Response from Louise Davies, Patient Experience Officer, Patient Experience Team, NHS Lothian 2 years ago
Louise Davies
Patient Experience Officer, Patient Experience Team,
NHS Lothian
Submitted on 06/10/2021 at 11:21
Published on Care Opinion at 11:57


picture of Louise Davies

Dear Clachtoll

Following on from my response last week, the team responsible for this programme has reviewed your correspondence and are very sorry for the difficulties experienced.

They have advised that if you have any further queries to call the Lothian vaccine helpline on 0300 790 6296. This helpline can provide information in relation parking at the out of town flu vaccine centre, They may also be able to arrange an appointment closer to home if this is still required.

I hope this helps.

Best wishes

Louise

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