Book Your Covid Booster! Errr, How? Where?

Ours in Staffs was straightforward too - NHS texted me 1 day after the 6 months from 2nd jab inviting me to book the booster. Found the same centre 6 miles away and got a slot 2 days later. Wondering about Carol, who'd had her first 2 through the GP surgery, so when I booked in to receive mine at the NHS centre I asked if I could arrange hers too - and they said "get her out the car, we'll do hers now as well".

However, when we chatted to the bloke marshalling the carpark, he said the takeup rate was only about 2/3 of what they'd planned, and they were thinking of shutting up early.

Which is pretty sad, when you think of it - as if a lot of folk would rather just not bother, and sod the risk, to themselves and others...

My wife was trying to book hers on line yesterday, she finally phoned 119 but they said they could only look at what we were on line. I took over last night and finally got one come up. for this morning You just have to keep trying, every time I tried different places came and went.

Bill D

No difficulty in South Bucks, got the invite went onto the NHS booking site, offered choice of about 20 venues all in striking distance. Chose my preferred option and booked at a date and time to suit. The site, Chalfont Community Hospital, was well organised, book in and given number, sit down for a couple of minutes in a general waiting area and then called in for jab. All done in about 5 minutes. Only delay was that they wanted you to wait for 15 minutes after the jab to make sure you had no strange side-effects (I think most people sat down for a few minutes and then legged it, I know that's what I did).

Still haven't had this years flu jab though.

John

Got a call from local health centre a couple of weeks ago relating to COPD/Asmah condition I am plagued with to make sure I was still stealing air. Used to be a yearly (pre covid) visit but now phone call. Asked about booster but after a few minutes was informed computer was playing up (AGAIN). Had a knee mail from NHS and a letter from same giving telephone number to contact for booster but suspect, as others have posted that nearest jab centre will be miles away. Doing it this way for first jab would have been 40mins drive away via M62. I think not.

Regards Ian.

I have to say that both my wife (nothing wrong as far as we know), and myself (severely immuno defficient due to chemotherapy) have been called into our GP's surgery by telephone. I have had all three & SWMBO is up for her third next week. And it worked like clockwork - a team of people outside to assist with parking, a team of people inside to assist with seating/coordination etc, and three people inside the surgery, one doing the paperwork, another administering the jab, and a third doing I know not what, possibly preparing for the next patient.

Plus, when I asked I also got the annual 'flu jab in the other arm.

Not so good though for attempting to see a doctor. Our surgery is operating this triage system. Not impressed. And indeed, after seeing the last three GP's, I'm not impressed there either. 10 minute appointments, and the door is then held open whilst you are still getting dressed. And only one symptom at a time. And I'm not impressed with one of them - "Carry on using the cream, it won't do any harm!" It may well have worked to start with, but it actually caused a further side effect which I realised after I stopped using it for a couple of days whilst I went to a consultant about the rash it was causing!

So, full marks for the anti- Covid organisation. Not so good otherwise.

Peter G. Shaw

It seems that as others have said sites come and go on the list depending on bookings so if someone takes a walk in jab their booked appointment gets cancelled and the system throws open the slot again. Blink and you missed it.

A friends parents living in Medway were given an appointment for booster jabs in Clacton, notwithstanding there is a walk in station in Chatham!

Perhaps the person sorting out the available jabs had a small scale map in front of them, only an inch or two

Just booked mine on the NHS website. It helped that I still had the texts on my phone from the first lot of vaccinations, as entering the number they gave me then made it really quick and easy.

John.

Totally agree with Peter G Shaw about the doctors surgery, we have to phone at 8:00 in the morning and wait for ages to get through then explain all your symptoms to the receptionist who then says that a doctor will phone you some time before six pm. Doctor will only attempt to call twice, if you don’t answer quickly enough that’s your tough luck, they then do everything possible to avoid having you visit the surgery, no wonder so many people are going to the local A and E department.

Letter from NHS, saying Go On Line.

Enter NHS no

Select place

Continue /next

Select time.

Go, confirn D O B and No.

Jab, sit for 15 mins

Go Home.

Wife was jabbed a couple of weeks after me.

Surgery (Got through!!!!!! ) "Youb are not on the list"

Went on line,

Enter her NHS no

Select place

Next

Select time

Go, jab, sit down for 15 mins, Go home

Howard

You forgot the bit where, when the doctor does call, he talks to you over a speaker-phone (or, worse, his mobile used as one) which picks up all the room acoustics. Just the thing for elderly people with age-related hearing loss.

I am in the same locality as Nigel and the situation is nothing short of shocking.

My 95 year old mother (limited mobility, lives alone) was in the first tranche of vaccines and expected to get her call for a jab in September.

When she heard nothing she has twice contacted her GP surgery who said 'await your call'.

When my wife got her call (with appointment associated, 35 years younger and in good health) in Weymouth this week I contacted Mother's GP and was again told my mother should wait.

I have spent four days trying online and calling 119 (literally hours on the phone and conformed 'no appointments available in Dorset' !) and finally at 11.30 last night I went got an appointment booked online in Bournemouth. That will be a 2.5hr round trip for me to collect my mother and take her there.

The local pharmacy Nigel refers to is clearly swamped and we have no walk in centres offered in Dorset.

The first round of vaccinations, arranged at pace and run by volunteers worked a dream, so more time appears only to have allowed bureaucracy and muddle to develop.

So much for Climate Emergency and saving fuel if we are all doing this LoL.

i went for my pre booked booster int north UK today only to discover that if your eligable you dont need a booking - just walk in off the street - nwe to me.

Had ours this morning. We were there for about 1/2 hr. Whole process went OK.

Finally booked mine online this morning.

All of the local centres(I don't consider those on the other side of the Thames to be local) had appointments starting from 13th December. So I'm going to the closest, that I can walk to, on the 15th.

Well, the result for me was ringing my Health Centre, explaining the problem and obtaining an appointment in Weymouth Hospital - all of 3 miles by 2 buses away - later this month.

I wonder if a lot of the problem John Paton and I have found is down to local politics. Bournemouth was a Hampshire seaside-resort until some boundary re-organisation put it in Dorset, whereupon it decided it extends from Hurn Airport in the East to Poole in the West, and all the rest of Dorset is either its feifdom or non-existent.

So it hogs the lot, meaning the NHS website giving no walk-in centres, and just one vaccination pharmacy, elsewhere in a county 60 miles wide X 30 high - even though Dorset County Hospital is still in Dorchester in the centre of that 60 miles.

It made me wonder how many other counties, and their residents, are similarly affected. The replies above all show very inconsistent planning somewhere in the system.

I had mine locally after booking it online, I had a choice of at least 2 local sites within 1 1/2 miles of home. I live about 1 mile west of J21 on the M5. I mentioned this to another volunteer at the museum who lives in the centre of Weston Super Mare, and he was not amused at being offered Bristol or Bridgewater.

Got the call Friday mid morning to attend for stab on Saturday 11.30. Got there at 11.20 as MOST of my generation get there 10 minutes early and not one minute late and was ushered straight through. Slight disagreement that I told them NOT to administer Flu jab and that my fifteen minute run down would be spent in the controlled atmosphere of MY CAR and not the plague pit. Had to go through this again on exit to car. Bless, they're only trying to cover all bases so full marks.

Regards Ian