Vaccination Apology after elderly had to queue in sleet and snow
AGP surgery near Bristol has apologised after elderly patients had to queue in the cold to get their coronavirus vaccines.
Large socially distanced queues were pictured outside Kingswood Health Centre on Saturday, with reports of people standing for more than an hour in freezing conditions to get the jab.
The surgery has apologised for the delays, but said it had vaccinated 1,100 people on Saturday and had to use vaccine stocks before yesterday.
One woman told the Post she and her 82-year-old husband, who has dementia, waited for an hour and 25 minutes as snow and sleet rained down.
The 75-year-old carer, who asked not to be named, said: “There must have been about 150 people in the queue [ when we were there].
“They were all elderly, many with walking frames and sticks, and they were queuing from the doors of the health centre around the car park, right the way along Alma Road down to Alma Close.”
She said they arrived at about 11.50am for her husband’s 12pm appointment, and first had to wait to find a space in the packed car park.
It was not until 1.20pm that he received the vaccine, which she said was a difficult task in itself due to his dementia and confusion about what was happening.
The retired occupational therapist acknowledged the difficult logistics of rolling out the vaccine, and spoke of her admiration for the doctors and nurses who organised the Saturday clinic at short notice.
She said: “I know it’s Christmas and I appreciate that it’s very difficult, and the situation is one we’ve not experienced before so [surgery staff] are working blind, having to make up the rule book as they go along.”
However, she said there was no communication while in the queue about how long the wait would be, and nothing beforehand to advise people that there might be a wait.
The woman, who is currently on crutches herself, also wanted to thank a kind woman who pulled over after passing the surgery as it started to sleet.
She handed her a child’s umbrella from the car and gave another to someone else in the queue.
She added: “In light of everything that’s going on, people are kind. Everyone around us was talking about how lovely it was.”
Kingswood Health Centre shared a statement on its Facebook page acknowledging that there were “long queues”.
The post read: “Today [Saturday] our four practices managed to vaccinate over 1,100 patients.
“We were given notice to deliver this clinic on Tuesday. The vaccine was delivered on Thursday and had to be used up by Sunday. Due to the bank holiday, today was our only option to set up the clinic.
“Staff from across the four practices gave up their free time to book patients in and support the clinics today.
“This was all at very short notice after already having an incredibly difficult year.”
The post confirmed that “unfortunately in the morning we experienced long queues for patients waiting to come in”.
It continued: “Every single room in the health centre was being used to vaccinate and we were unable to move patients through any quicker.
“Social distancing meant we couldn’t keep more people waiting inside the building.
“As we saw the queue growing we called in extra staff to help out, and thankfully by the afternoon session we managed to get the wait down to 20 minutes.”
The health centre’s post apologised if people had a long wait time. It added: “As with all new things, we will review our model and look to improve it.
I appreciate that it’s very difficult, and the situation is one we’ve not experienced before Wife and carer of 82-year-old dementia patient
“This is new to all of us and we are doing our absolute best to vaccinate as many patients as we can and not waste any vaccine.
“Despite the issues we experienced today, we still managed to vaccinate a significant number of patients in our area and for that I am immensely proud of my team.”
More than 100 comments have been posted in response, the vast majority praising staff for their dedication.
One woman wrote: “We had 37 care staff come to your practice for their vaccination, all reported how well organised it was. Thank you for giving up your time to give us protection.”