Dear Patient,
18.1.2021 Update on Covid-19 vaccinations for Leatside patients
For the past few weeks our team, working with nine other local GP surgeries and volunteers have been working seven days a week to coordinate and deliver Covid-19 vaccinations to our patients. The clinics are taking place at St Boniface House near Buckfastleigh but we hope to be able to provide some satellite clinics from the surgery in the coming weeks as and when supply enables.
Over the last week we have been able to vaccinate residents and staff at the Totnes care homes dedicated to care of the elderly and have managed to vaccinate the majority of our patients aged 80 and above. In total we have delivered 1,172 vaccinations to our registered patients in addition to those health and social care workers such as care home staff who work within Totnes. In total the group of ten surgeries have delivered 5.141 vaccinations.
We will continue to proactively contact those who have yet to receive or decline the vaccine, but with more vaccines coming in this week we are now able to open up clinics to those patients aged 75 and above.
Our booking line is open from 2pm-6pm Monday – Friday (01803 862671) and the announcement will let you know whether we currently have available appointments. You will be asked to book an appointment now and at the same time in 12 weeks for your booster. We will contact those patients shortly who have already received their first jab but who do not have a follow up appointment.
Our biggest frustration at the moment is the uncertainty with regards to vaccine supply as we are only notified of deliveries a few days before we receive them – we have no control over the volume or manufacturer of the vaccine. The delivery schedules also vary wildly across the country. This means that we are required to plan, arrange, advertise and book clinics at very short notice. To put this in context we usually plan our annual flu clinics approximately two months in advance.
We are hopeful however that in the coming weeks will be able to move to regular supply so that we can give more certainty to patients, staff and our wonderful volunteers.
In line with national guidelines please do not contact the surgery to query when we will be offering the vaccine to the next cohort. From now we will ensure that the website is updated and emails sent out when the next cohort is eligible and supply allows.
Below is a summary of the JCVI priority list with those highlighted in bold those which are currently eligible.
1 - Residents in a care home for older adults and their carers
2 - All those aged 80 and over, as well as frontline health and social care workers
3 - All those aged 75 and over
*** above are eligible ***
4 - All those aged 70 and over, as well as clinically extremely vulnerable individuals
5 - All those aged 65 and over
6 - All individuals aged 16-64 with underlying health conditions which put them at higher risk of serious disease and mortality as well as unpaid carers.
7 - All those aged 60 and over
8 - All those aged 55 and over
9 - All those aged 50 and over
Thank you for your patience and stay safe.
Martin Randall
General Manager
If you wish to volunteer to help please e-mail volunteer.sdtandshpcn@nhs.net