Update:  1.3.21

We are pleased to announce that we have now vaccinated 88% of patients in the first 6 groups.  As mentioned in our last update, Group 6 is a large cohort of patients and we did not have enough vaccines in the last delivery to vaccinate everyone in the group.  We are now pleased to advise that we have now had confirmation of our next delivery and the remaining patients in group 6 have been sent invites today (by SMS) to a clinic at Wycombe Town Hall on Tuesday 9^th March. There are also some patients in Group 7 (aged 64 years old who have been invited). The remainder of patients in Group 7 (aged 63-60) will receive invites when we have confirmation of our next delivery.

Very few patients in the groups invited thus far have declined to have the vaccination which is extremely encouraging and we thank those of you who have elected to have the vaccine.  If you have decided that you do not want to have the vaccination, please do not call the surgery but instead please put this in writing and send it via email to [email protected] so that we can update your medical record and so that we do not keep contacting you.

We are getting a high volume of calls from patients questioning when they will be called for their 2^nd vaccination.  Please bear with us, the strategy for rolling out the 2^nd vaccinations alongside the continued rollout of the 1^st vaccination is currently being worked on by our PCN and we will update you further and send invites to the eligible patients as soon as we have confirmation of this.

Following the news from the JCVI (Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation) last week we will be following Phase 2 of the vaccination schedule as set by them.  This means that after groups 1 to 9 in Phase 1, people aged 40 to 49 years are at highest risk of hospitalisation, with the risk reducing the younger you are.

Prioritisation will therefore continue in the following order, once all at-risk groups in Phase 1 have been offered at least one dose of the vaccine:

• all those aged 40 to 49 years
• all those aged 30 to 39 years
• all those aged 18 to 29 years

When you are called for your appointment can we please remind you to go alone, unless of course you need assistance, to reduce the footfall and to protect other patients and the staff working at the Town Hall.

We will of course update you further as soon as we have any news to tell you, in the meantime, thank you for your patience and please continue to help us by remembering not to contact us (by phone or email) in respect of covid vaccinations.

Eligible patients will be contacted by SMS by us, please be patient and wait until you are contacted, DO NOT RING US. The only exception to this is if you are, or you know of anybody aged over 65 years that would like the vaccination and have not heard from us then please ask them to contact us.

Unfortunately we/the NHS cannot provide transport and therefore if you don’t drive you should make your own transport arrangements, either by friends, family or public transport/taxi. Stokenchurch Community Transport are able to offer transport for those who do not wish to drive to the vaccination centre with priority given to those with limited mobility, including wheelchair-bound, who will otherwise find it extremely difficult to get to the vaccination centre. For further information, please call 07549 838 773.

There is parking available for those who intend to drive, at the Swan Car Park and signage and volunteers will be present to indicate the route to the vaccination centre. Please ensure you wear warm clothing as it is a short walk from the car park. For disabled patients or those who struggle to walk there is a drop off zone and disabled access via the archway in Queen Victoria Road, next to the Town Hall.

Please be mindful that we are currently working under extreme pressure due to the extra demands of the Covid-19 vaccination programme in addition to providing our normal services and winter pressures.  Our resources are further stretched as we are also helping staff the mass vaccination centre at the Town Hall and please bear in mind that we are not immune ourselves to staff losses due to the pandemic. You should only contact us regarding the vaccine if you have received a text message from us asking you to do so. For more information regarding the vaccination please visit the NHS.UK website  and look at the handy patient information leaflet published by Public Health England Covid-19 Vaccine leaflet

PLEASE DO NOT CALL THE SURGERY WITH QUESTIONS RELATING TO WHEN YOUR VACCINATION WILL BE TAKING PLACE AS WE WILL CONTACT YOU AT THE APPROPRIATE TIME.

For information on the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak please go to the NHS UK page or the information on Gov.uk