Covid Vaccinations – Information Regarding Second Doses
Dear Patients,
We will soon be arranging appointments for the second dose of the COVID Vaccination for patients who attended our local GP led vaccination site at Units 6&7, Fifth Avenue, Letchworth (near Sainsburys) for their first dose.
Patients will be informed of their second dose appointment by letter or telephone.
Our vaccine supply for these second dose clinics is pre-determined by the national supply chain and based strictly upon the first doses we administered, in terms of both vaccine amount and delivery date.
Please note therefore the following:
- Patients who did not have their first dose of vaccination at our site cannot attend our site for their second dose, and will not be invited or sent an appointment.
- The appointment provided is not able to be altered or amended, other than in the most extreme extenuating circumstance.
Please, therefore, do not contact the surgery to request to reschedule your appointment for any other reason.
For your information, second dose appointments will be scheduled 77-84 days after your first dose.
Covid Vaccination Update
GPs in Letchworth Garden City are working hard to vaccinate everyone in the priority groups. At the moment our focus is on people aged under 65 with specific health conditions which put them at higher risk of becoming seriously ill with COVID as well as those people who we know are Carers who are eligible to be vaccinated. We are inviting people as quickly as we can, based on the vaccine supplies available to us. If you fall into one of these categories, we will be contacting you over the next fortnight once we have been allocated our vaccine stocks.
There are some weeks when we are not receiving as much supply of the vaccine as we would like, due to national supply constraints. We know this has led to some longer waits than we would like to see for our patients. If you or someone you care for is eligible for a vaccination and is very concerned about waiting to be called, you can try to book online at https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/coronavirus- vaccination/book-coronavirus-vaccination/ or dial 119 to see if an alternative vaccination centre has any appointments.
There is currently a high demand for appointments through this route which may mean that you have to travel further to get an appointment until national vaccine supplies increase. There are vaccination centres at the following locations in east and north Hertfordshire:
- Robertson House, Stevenage
- Chells Manor Community Centre, Stevenage
- Da Vinci former grammar school, Letchworth
- Avanti Meadows Primary School, Bishop’s Stortford
- The Priory, Ware
- Roche Pharmaceuticals, Welwyn Garden City
If these options do not appear for you, this means that all their appointments are currently booked up. More appointment slots do get added so check back regularly. There are also vaccination sites in west Hertfordshire, Essex and Bedfordshire that may be closer to where you live.
Letters are now being sent from NHS England to people aged over 55, inviting them to arrange an appointment online using the national booking website. If you are aged over 55 and receive one of the national letters but don’t want to book online and would prefer to receive your vaccination with us at our GP hub at Units 6 & 7, Fifth Avenue Letchworth Garden City Herts SG6 2TS, you will need to be patient and wait for us to contact you. Like all local vaccination services provided by GPs, our hub is not on the national booking site; it is managed by practice staff who will either call you or send you a text message. As soon as we have vaccinated everyone in the earlier priority groups and we have enough vaccine to move on to the next group, we will be in contact with over 55s.
We are expecting our vaccine supplies to GP hubs to increase considerably from the middle of March so we hope to be able to call in many more people after that – for their first and second doses, in line with national guidance about priority groups and the recommended interval between doses. Please be assured that nobody who is due a second dose will have to wait longer than 12 weeks for it.
The East and North Herts Clinical Commissioning Group have created some non-English language videos with some of our GPs and other professionals at the CCG in order to help increase awareness about social distancing, hand washing and testing.
These are on YouTube for sharing.
Your GP practice – here for you
GP practices are still open and here for you during the Covid-19 pandemic. If you need medical help for an ongoing condition, or if you are unwell and having symptoms of something new, please don’t put things off - get in touch with us. You can call us on our usual surgery number 01462 624000 or use the eConsult form –SEE HOME PAGE.
We can set up an appointment with a GP or nurse over the phone, or if we need to see you face to face, please be reassured that we can care for you safely. Special arrangements have been made to ensure you will be treated completely separately from patients with suspected coronavirus symptoms.
We can also still help with repeat prescriptions. Let us know us know in good time before your medicine runs out and we can arrange for a local pharmacist to prepare your next supply. If you need help picking medicines up, there are local volunteers able to assist. Call Herts Help on 0300 123 4044 or the national NHS volunteer scheme on 0808 196 3646.
We are working differently but our dedicated staff are still able to help you.
AT THE PRESENT TIME ALL APPOINTMENTS BOOKED ONLINE WILL BE DEALT WITH BY TELEPHONE
Do you have a routine appointment booked over next few weeks ? If in the meantime you have returned from overseas, been in contact with a confirmed case of COVID-19 or develop the following symptoms: cough, a high temperature and shortness of breath PLEASE DO NOT COME TO THE SURGERY.
Improving Access to General Practice
From October 2018 patients will be able to see a GP or another health professional in a local surgery - Sollershott Surgery, 44 Sollershott East, Letchworth Garden City, Hertfordshire SG6 3JW - between 6.30pm and 8.00pm on weekdays, 8.00am and 4.00pm on Saturdays and 8.00am and 12.00pm on Sundays.
To arrange an appointment please speak to a member of the Practice Team.
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