COVID 19 VACCINATION PROGRAMME

Like many GP Practices, Penkridge started the rollout of the Covid 19 vaccination programme this week and we thought it might be helpful to share some information with patients so they have an idea about the cohort of patients we will be covering, where vaccinations will take place and how this will roll out over the next few months.

NHS England has asked General Practice to work at scale on this project, which means practices have to work in groups. This is partly due to restrictions about transporting and storing the vaccine currently available, but also because of the logistics of administering the vaccine whilst continuing to remain open for normal services and manage social distancing.

Penkridge, alongside all Practices in the Stafford area have agreed to work together on providing a large scale hub model. For this purpose we have secured the use of the County Showground until at least the end of March 2021. We know this means patients will need to travel to this site, but there is ample free parking and the venue is large which means we can give the vaccine in larger numbers and there is plenty of room to accommodate for the 15 minutes observation period that has to take place after the vaccine has been given. Penkridge, along with fellow GP Practices will provide staff to work at the site on a regular basis. First clinics took place this week and ran well, with patients being processed through quickly and safely without much waiting time. Stafford Practices are also working with Practices is South Staffordshire and so an appointment at the Trinity Methodist Church in Codsall is also an option.

General Practice are being asked to give vaccines to patients aged 50 and over. We have been issued instructions on how these vaccines should be offered and the order in which we should offer them.

 Older adult residents in a care home and care home workers  All those 80 years of age (and over) and Health and Social Care Workers  All those 75 years of age and over  All those 70 years of age and over  All those 65 years of age and over  High-risk adults under 65 years of age  Moderate-risk adults under 65 years of age  All those 60 years of age and over  All those 55 years of age and over  All those 50 years of age and over

The number of appointments being offered is dependent on the number of vaccines available and once delivered these vaccines have to be used within 3-4 days. We have decided that we will contact patients to offer appointments. Patients are required to have 2 vaccines administered and these need to be 3-4 weeks apart. When we contact to book your vaccination appointment we will book both appointments so please note them down carefully. If you are taking warfarin medication and have regular blood tests to monitor this you will be asked to take along your latest printout or yellow book to the vaccination appointment as the doctor on site may wish to see your latest reading, your therapeutic range and the date of your next blood test appointment.

Please don’t contact the Practice to try and book a Covid 19 vaccination appointment. If you have an appointment booked and need to cancel it you should contact the Practice to make us aware of this so we can offer to someone else. If you are undecided at the moment whether or not to have the vaccine, that’s not a problem, when our staff contact you just let them know and we will note that we need to re-contact you again early next year. If you have decided not to have the vaccine just let staff know and we will note that you have declined.

If you are not able to leave your home, again don’t worry, plans are being made to vaccinate housebound patients, but at the moment these are not finalised. You will be contacted when plans are in place to roll this part of the programme out.

We hope you find this information useful and it helps you understand how the vaccination programme is being rolled out locally.