covid booster warning

A fortnight ago, I had a text inviting me to book a flu jab along with the second covid booster. When I had to actually go to the surgery last week (because the NHS website is impossible to navigate and the phone line is specially difficult), I was told that there were no places left and I should try again in 10 days.

If anybody gets an invite, be sure to get book up straight away.

Thankyou for that advice.

My surgery uses its own web-site and a text invitation / appointment system, which generally works well. It does seem that in too many cases, the larger the company or organisation the poorer the web -site design;. with IT and telecomms companies being among the worst!

I am not expecting a flu + Covid jab until September or October, I think, from memory of when the last flu one was.

I've just been to my GP surgery to see nursey-wursey and asked the question. Basically she doesn't know, and strongly intimated that she probably won't know until the stuff lands on ber desk along with "Here you are, get on with it."

Oh well, wait and see. Again1

Peter G. Shaw

My GP doesn't do them. But the Pharmacy next door does, usually without booking. They also take Blood samples and Blood pressure tests. Is this the privatisation of the NHS creeping in ?

Is this the privatisation of the NHS creeping in ?

Does it matter as long as you get the service you require, when you require it, at the same cost to you ?

Nigel B.

The NHS obviously isn't working in it's present form so needs looking at and the answer is not just billions more cash, I can't imagine that will happen in our lifetimes.

Tony

They announced just yesterday that a new vaccine by Moderna has been approved for adults booster. It protects against the original Covid and the Omicron variant, I doubt it'll be ready to distribute yet so don't rush to book now or you will get the old vaccine

Edited By vic newey on 17/08/2022 09:48:45

If the vaccine is the Spikefax vaccine, which the press has reported, then it is the one that my wife and I were given when we had our fourth jab in the early part of this year. The information sheet given to us when we had the vaccine stated that it was at that time not fully tested, I presume we were part of a mass testing phase of its introduction. I can say that we reacted more so to this vaccine than previous Pfizer and AstraZeneca versions, I don’t want to scare anyone into not having the vaccine but my wife and I along with others in our circle of friends had strong reactions to the Spikevax vaccine. Vic I am sure that the vaccine having already been available for some months then stocks will be sufficient to meet demand. Dave W

yes and no

My GP is now a multiple partnership of 5 practises, the phone system is a joke and GP's were effectively privatised when they were given their own budgets to spend on treatment.

We now have several pay for treatment GP's poping up in high St retail units. These Dr must have left proper practises to set up private thus creating their own 'shortage' and desperate customers.

Nice.

Wife had a reaction to the previous Moderna vaccine. So we hope that this version will be less problematic.

I've been lucky,so far, no reaction to Pfizer or Astra Zeneca.

We'll ,find out before too long!

Howard

Is this the privatisation of the NHS creeping in ?

I think no but I think the NHS will use the private sector to easy it's load. My last eye test revealed I have cataracts within two weeks I had my first consultation and an appointment and four weeks later I get my left eye done all this with private eye care.

H

In the past my GP father-in-law ran a practice which dealt directly with the NHS. Nowdays practices like his have been taken over by health companies which run a number of surgeries and have therefore installed themselves in between the medics and the NHS. They like the money, but not the patients because the latter cost money. So now, when you ring for an appointment you might get one in 3-4 weeks, or you get told to go to A and E, or a pharmacist, or if you’re lucky you might get a video call with a GP at a private on-line consultancy. So yes, it is creeping privatisation. And of no use to the patient.

I guess it all depends on your political point of view, and I certainly don't want to get engaged in a politically charged debate, so I will try very hard to keep this comment 'neutral'. Some people believe that health is not a commodity to be bought and sold at a profit and that a health service should be provided to the individual and community through the agency of government funded by general taxation. Others will point out that this can never quite be the case because private enterprise pharmaceutical companies have always invested in research, which we all eventually benefit from, with the aim of making a profit which comes from the demand to treat people's ill health. So, I am guessing it always has to be a balance between a moral standpoint and a business imperative which is why politicians of all hues ply their trade in an interminable debate.