Local surgeries under pressure

An update on the local COVID-19 situation from Dr Simon Lennane, Primary Care Network Clinical Director:

As ever, things are changing rapidly around Covid-19 and our response. The new variant of Covid is more transmissible, which is leading to a significant rise in cases and a lot of pressure on health services, leading to this further lockdown. It is more important than ever to be wearing masks whenever outside your house.

The guidance on vaccinations has recently changed. We will now not be doing a second dose this weekend as planned, but instead focusing on getting more patients vaccinated with their first dose. We have tried to contact everyone to cancel the slots we had already booked, but please don’t attend the clinic for a second dose, as we won’t be doing any booster doses this time. We will contact people needing a second dose in due course.

Surgeries are very busy booking patients into the vaccination clinics, which is taking our receptionists away from answering their normal calls. This means it may take longer to answer calls, so we are extremely grateful for your understanding. Widespread roll out of the vaccination is the best way to get out of this pandemic, so please be aware that surgeries are under a lot of pressure. The guidance over the prioritisation of vaccine is clearly laid out, so patients will be contacted in due course with a slot.

Dr Lennane will be taking part in an online call, open to all, with Herefordshire Healthwatch on Wednesday  6th January 7-8pm which gives a chance to ask any questions about Covid-19 and vaccinations.