Woman, 69, still waiting for vaccine
The family of a woman who has not had her Covid-19 vaccine has said it is shocked after being told she is not on the system and to ‘call back in a couple of weeks to complain’.
Bernice Shiels, 69, from Craigentinny, Edinburgh, said she is furious after her family first called the national helplinemorethanfiveweeksago – and filled in a form online but have had no response.
The mum-of-three lives alone and has not seen her family since December 2019. In Scotland, those aged 65 and older were in the first priority group in the rollout of the vaccination programme.
A city councillor has branded the situation “unacceptable” and called for urgent action to get the Mrs Shiels vaccinated. It comes after the Evening News revealed how a problem with the central national database, which generates appointment letters, was contributing to vaccine delays in the Lothians.
Sources at NHS Lothian said delays were being caused by a problem tallying up information from two primary lists – data from GP surgeries and national health records in Scotland.
Mrs Shiels’ daughter, Lesley, has called the national helpline for her mum several times. She is furious after being told to call back in a couple of weeks to complain.
Lesley, who lives in northwest England, said: “We are banging our heads against a brick wall here. Mum is so fed up. For someone in her age group to still be waiting when she should have been vaccinated back in February, it’s not right.”
Mrs Shiels, a retired cleaner, said: “I’m getting really angry about this now. I can’t understand why they can’t fix this. I’m stuck at home
by myself. I haven’t seen my grandson in nearly a year and a half.”
Joan Griffiths, Labour councillor for Craigentinny, said: “This is not acceptable. I understand that people can
get missed but once contact has been made and they have been alerted to this it should have been picked up and acted upon. I can understand her family’s concerns, they don’t live near their mum and must be very worried on her behalf.”
NHS Lothian and NHS National Services have been contacted for comment.