Anger over Covid helpline after 14-week vaccine wait
Top academic brands system ‘impossible’ after delay in second dose
ONE of Scotland’s best known academics has hit out at Scotland’s “impossible” Covid helpline after waiting more than 14 weeks for his second vaccine.
Professor Sir John Curtice revealed how he spent three weeks unsuccessfully raising concerns about his missing appointment through the national helpline, health board, and online forms, saying that the shortcomings in the system “need to be exposed”.
The 67-year-old pollster, from Hyndland in Glasgow, was due his second dose by April 30 but was only given an appointment for his second vaccination today after
The Herald raised his case with the health board.
He said helpline operatives verified that he was due his second dose, but were unable to book the appointment and were left to pass his details on to health board teams.
“The problem seems to be that the helpline is unable to solve the problem that it identifies,” said Prof Curtice.
“So that raises the question: ‘Why do we have the helpline if they can’t do anything?’, and/or ‘why are the health board ignoring messages they’re getting from the helpline?’, assuming they’re getting them?
“There’s an operational issue somewhere that someone needs to sort out.”
The booking and appointments system in Scotland is overseen by NHS National Services Scotland who have outsourced it to Californian IT giant Servicenow for £780,000 to date. In England,
which uses a British contractor, System C, people are being invited by age group to book their own vaccinations, while in Scotland patients are mostly sent appointment letters.
The Herald understands that, from Monday, staff on Scotland’s national Covid helpline will be allowed for the first time to make bookings directly for missed patients following repeated complaints that people were being passed “from pillar to post”.
Labour MSP for Glasgow Pam Duncan-glancy said she had been contacted by a number of constituents nearing or passed the 12-week threshold for their second dose.
She said: “I am working with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde to resolve the situation for the people involved, and also to work with them to address the operational issues that have led to these people falling through the cracks.”
One 27-year-old science student with a rare condition which puts him at high risk of a collapsed lung if he develops Covid described the process of querying his missed appointment as “unparalleled logistical chaos”.
Richard Maclaren said he had repeatedly contacted the Covid helpline, completed online forms, and spoken to his GP surgery or health board staff ahead of the April 15 deadline to give first doses to everyone aged 16-64 with an underlying health condition.
There remain 94,000 people in this category – around 12 per cent – yet to receive a first dose, but it is unclear how many actually opted not to be vaccinated.
Mr Maclaren said helpline staff told him to check with his GP that he had been added to the priority list, but the practice referred him to the health board who in turn passed him on to another helpline.
“All they could do was confirm that I was not on the system,” he said, adding that he was told there was a “four-to-six week backlog” in sending out appointments to those found to have been missed.
“I was informed that the group of people with underlying health conditions is far larger than was initially anticipated,” he said.
David Willows has been chasing overdue second doses for his 88-year-old in-laws in the Tollcross area of Glasgow since the start of May.
He said: “I am certain that they are not alone and there will be a number of at-risk people in their
80’s in Glasgow who have been missed. It’s really frustrating and disappointing.”
Prof Curtice said he had been particularly worried after his delayed appointment meant he had to travel to London for election work between May 2 and 10 without being fully vaccinated.
He said: “That’s the riskiest thing I’ve done for months because for the most part I can just work from home.”
In April, Scotland’s chief medical officer, Dr Gregor Smith, said a “small number” of people had waited more than 12 weeks for their second vaccination.
Scotland’s national clinical director, Professor Jason Leitch, said at the time that it was “not an exact science” and getting a second dose at 14 or 15 weeks “is absolutely fine”.
A spokeswoman for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said: “We are sorry to hear Professor Curtice experienced difficulty in making a second dose appointment. We have contacted Professor Curtice and offered him an appointment on Tuesday, 18 May.”
It comes as the latest data shows that one in every thousand people in Glasgow is testing positive for the virus, driven by an explosion in cases in parts of the south side believed to be linked to the Indian variant.
In the Pollokshields West hotspot nearly 16 in every 1,000 residents is infected. NHS GGC is accelerating vaccinations to people aged 18 to 39 in the worst-hit postcodes, and is “finalising plans” to speed up second doses to eight-week intervals for over-50s in affected communities.
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said using appointment letters is “the most established and co-ordinated approach” for vaccinations, but confirmed it is “exploring the feasibility of rolling out online booking for future cohorts of the vaccination programme”.
She added: “The NHS NSS Service Now platform has been in place across Scotland’s health boards for more than three years. It has reduced costs, increased efficiency and created an improved ‘once for Scotland’ digital platform.”