Vaccine roll-out is hit and miss

Covid-19 has brought into stark relief the ‘pre-existing condition’ of health and social care in east Kent.

East Kent is a microcosm of the UK, with pockets of wealth cheek by jowl with deprivation. Many coastal communities here and along the south coast suffer from high unemployment, poor housing, precarious employment conditions and a lack of resources to sustain adequate social resilience.

The travails of the East Kent Hospitals Trust in the last decade are symptomatic of an organisation struggling to cope with economic circumstances beyond its control. Not only is it working within areas of significant social deprivation, but East Kent has a large population of 65+ retirees, who make greater demands on what in some areas is a threadbare healthcare system.

The roll out of the vaccination programme is an example of this threadbare provision. One need only look at a map of the Clinical Commissioning Group’s vaccination hub layout to see big holes in provision in some areas. West of Ashford is comprehensive provision and in a timely manner.

East of Ashford, it is a different matter. There are fewer vaccination centres and they are not super hubs. Some GPS have pushed on and are vaccinating at speed and their activities put them firmly in the pantheon of NHS heroes. Elsewhere, especially in Folkestone and Dover Districts, provision is inadequate and tardy. To be fair, Folkestone is at last getting additional hubs, but there is a lot of catching up to do there. Dover has but one public vaccination centre. Even if it reaches 1,000 vaccinations per day and sustains that rate, seven days per week, it will take 20 days hard work to cover the initial priority groups with their first jab to reach the February 15 target date for the four age groups with the highest priority. So it is possible, but only if additional vaccination teams are vaccinating care home residents and staff and there is no disruption or congestion at the port of Dover or in the supply of vaccines. These are big risks to the CCG’S plans and wellbeing. It is unlikely that the Ministry of Health will be sympathetic towards any excuses for failure, when other CCGS elsewhere would have met and exceeded

their targets.

Central government has learnt the lesson of under-promising and over-delivering; woe betide any organisation that fails to meet the objectives set centrally on that basis.

Of course I have not mentioned the difficulty in getting those over 80 who may not have personal transport to Dover from other parts of the district.

The plan, if there is a plan, has all the features of a managerialist bureaucracy, which designs projects on classic ‘groupthink’ parameters. Failure to meet the various targets may be embarrassing for the CCG, but deadly for those who are waiting patiently for their jab.

Richard Styles

Dover Road, Walmer