Cancer survivor, 78, hits out at ‘ rigmarole’ to receive his flu jab
ACANCER survivor has spoken of his fury at the “rigmarole” he went through to get his flu vaccination. Walter Smith and his wife Elizabeth were among hundreds of patients who faced delays for the lifeline jab.
The couple, who have been married for 53 years, have battled a number of health conditions – including Mr Smith’s prostate cancer diagnosis – in recent years and have felt the strain of waiting an extra month for the jag.
Mr Smith, a former engineer, said: “I’ve been getting it since I retired but my biggest worry this year, because we’ve had health problems over the last couple of years, and with coronavirus going about, you don’t want to wait much longer.
“Normally we have it at the very beginning of October and get our letter in September so we’re quite behind.
“When we talk to other people, we realise we’re one of the lucky ones because we’ve heard of people who haven’t got it yet.”
The couple finally received a text message from the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde ( NHSGGC) health board earlier this week, informing them to travel to St Mirren Park in Paisley to be vaccinated.
The text didn’t include a time or date which prompted Mr Smith to assume he was travel to the site immediately.
After bus journey and a wait in a long queue, the pair finally reached the vaccination point only to be asked for their appointment letter – which had yet to arrive.
Thankfully, after explaining the situation, the nurses found the time to carry out the inoculation for both Mr and Mrs Smith.
Their letter arrived the following day with an appointment scheduled for next month.
Mr Smith, 78, said: “We are quite angry because we don’t have transport and had to get a bus then walk quite a way.
“It’s irritating that we’ve had to phone and email different people – one phone call said it could be a two- hour wait to get through.
“All this rigmarole to get a jab that normally happens automatically.”
He added: “Our friends are going to just go to St Mirren Park without a letter, like we did, because they don’t know what else to do.”
NHSGGC have since apologised for delays and communication problems throughout the flu jab rollout.
The health board have insisted all appointment letters will be sent out before the end of this week and vaccinations of those over the age of 65 will be carried out by the end of next month.