St Heliers Medical Practice in Northfield have responded after patients and relatives reported patients in their 80s and 90s having to queue outside for around 30 minutes to receive their first COVID-19 vaccine injection over the last few days (Friday 18th – Saturday 19th December).
Readers did report that the wait times had been better today (Sunday 20th December).
Following the reports, we contacted the practice as well as Birmingham City Council’s Director of Public Health, Dr Justin Varney.
GPs and hospitals across the city are working on delivering COVID-19 vaccinations to the identified priority groups and all are encouraged to accept the vaccination when offered to help tackle the coronavirus pandemic.
With the understandable logistical challenges involved with quickly administering such a large number of new vaccinations with new systems, some have faced teething problems, in spite of careful planning.
In the case of the St Heliers practice, service users can help by sticking to their alloted times and not arriving early for appointments, causing bottlenecks in the system.
Dr Barbara King, from St Heliers Medical Practice said: “We are very sorry to hear that some patients have been unhappy with waiting times, when they have arrived for their COVID vaccination.
“The Bournville and Northfield Primary Care Network (PCN) has worked very hard to plan for the COVID vaccination, which we feel very privileged to be able to offer to our patients.
“The vaccine is complex and timely to reconstitute; bottle necks have occurred when large numbers of people have arrived very early for their appointment. In addition, the requirement for a 15 minute post-vaccination observation period has also presented some logistical challenges.
“A large number of people have their vaccination over the course of a day and it does present us with some operational challenges. For example, a marquee could not be erected for patients to wait in because we have had to carefully consider logistical issues with the limited carparking facilities we have and ensuring appropriate social distancing can take place.
“As well as taking action to reduce delays over the past few days, and making toilet facilities available upon request, we have listened to feedback from patients who have visited the surgery. For the second vaccine, we will be taking further action to ensure that waiting times are kept to a minimum and patients will have more access to waiting areas inside the building.
“We would be extremely grateful if patients do not arrive early for their appointment, as this will help us a great deal.”