Dear Patient,

You may have heard the news about this year’s flu vaccine campaign.

Cards on the table… this year will be a tough year for practices delivering flu vaccines.

Why?

• We are still geared up for another Covid-19 rise.
• We will be doing vaccinations in PPE meaning changes between patients and cleanse of the environment between patients.
• All that PPE has to be ordered, stored, shared out, restocked, disposed of.
• We need to maintain social distancing between patients, so no more crowded waiting rooms with a lovely catch up from others in your community.
• Social distancing means we have to make innovative use of our buildings, with one way in, one way out.

The additional group of people means lots more vaccines needed: practices order the vaccine a year ahead, so we now need to rely on NHSE / Public Health England to supply additional stock.

Everything takes longer: PPE, cleaning, social distancing. So a clinic for 1000 people which used to be done in 3 hours could now take 8.

The staff that deliver the vaccines, and the administrators who support them in the clinics are already working flat out during the week, and now face the prospect of working additional long shifts at the weekends.

Practices will not be able to run open clinics this year where patients can just turn up, so practices need to set up some kind of appointment system. If you are invited for an allocated appointment you will need to arrive as close to the time as possible and attend alone unless you need to be accompanied by an essential carer.

Patient Group members who may have helped in previous years now probably can’t due to the increased risks to them.

The number of housebound patients has increased, and home visits for them take much longer and are much more risky for the staff.

Many practices are running on reduced work force as they have staff who cannot see patients face to face due to their own risks.

Thank you for reading this far. You may ask what is the point of this post? The main point is we found out this information the same time as you did, and although we have lots of ideas, there is still lots we need to work out, so please don’t ask to book in yet!

We will let you know by text, Facebook, website or letter what the plan is.

It will be very different this year.

We will do our best as we always do.

We are grateful for your support. Please do share as every practice is in the same position

Thank you.

Kind regards,

Wolverton Health Centre