ONLINE VACCINE APP FOR NHS STAFF ‘LEAKED’
THE NHS says it could take disciplinary action after an online link to book a Covid vaccine which is meant for health and care workers was leaked.
The WMN’s sister website, Cornwall Live, was sent the Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly Health and Care Partnership and NHS England app link by an anonymous member of the public, who was concerned that it was being shared.
Testing the link, Cornwall Live went through various stages with options to book a Covid jab on a particular day and time at Stithians Showground, the
Health and Wellbeing Innovation Centre at Treliske, or the Royal Cornwall Hospital.
Cornwall Live stopped at the final stage in order not to block a vaccine slot needed by someone in the priority groups.
The portal is only for vaccines for front-line health and care workers and those staff who are clinically at risk or treating patients who are clinically vulnerable. Headed ‘Registration’, it offers Covid vaccination for ‘Other Healthcare Services’.
The NHS has said that it is “extremely disappointing” the link has been shared, and that could lead to disciplinary measures.
The worried reader who shared it told Cornwall Live that a number of people – who are not part of the priority groups – have been able to jump the queue and receive the vaccine via the leaked link, even when turning up at a centre without ID or a specific six-digit code which those receiving a vaccine are supposed to show.
The reader said: “I was passed the link and I know people have been able to use it who aren’t in the priority categories – they don’t have underlying conditions, are not health-care workers and are below the age bracket.
“They did not receive letters and no one asked for ID. I think you will find that this link is widely available.” An NHS spokesperson said: “It is extremely disappointing that the link provided to front-line health and care workers and those staff who are clinically at risk or treating patients who are clinically vulnerable to book their Covid vaccination has been shared.”
The spokesperson added that ID checks are being carried out at the vaccination centres on point of entry to the sites and then again when the person is checked on to the system inside the sites and prior to their vaccination “to ensure they are eligible for the vaccine.”