COVID-19 Vaccine

The Pfizer BioNTech vaccine has now been approved for use and the NHS will be starting to offer this to priority groups as soon as supplies arrive.

When will a vaccine be available?

The first, limited, deliveries of the vaccine started week beginning 7 December and the NHS is offering them to those who need them most based on the guidance from the Joint Committee for Vaccinations and Immunisations.

Who will get a vaccine?

The vaccine will be offered to those at greatest risk from COVID-19 first, people over 80 years old and prioritised frontline health and social care workers. This is based on the guidance from the Joint Committee for Vaccinations and Immunisations which is available here. As more supplies of the vaccine or alternative vaccines become available it will be rolled out in phases to people aged between 80 and 50 and those who are clinically extremely vulnerable. People will be invited for a vaccine when it is their turn so please avoid contacting your local hospital or GP practice.

Where and when can I get a vaccine?

To start with, vaccines will only be available at hospital ‘hubs’ where the Pfizer vaccine can be stored safely. However, arrangements are also being put in place to offer vaccines from a number of different locations as more supplies and different vaccines become available. These include local vaccine services provided by GPs and pharmacists and new dedicated vaccination centres to make sure that everyone who needs a vaccine is able to get one.

We will be contacting more and more people over the coming days and weeks, as well as protecting those of our staff who are at greatest risk. Please don’t contact your NHS to seek a vaccine, we will contact you

Further information and how you can help us

We will share further information with you as it becomes available. In the meantime, there are three things people can do to help:

• Please don’t contact the NHS to seek a vaccine – we will contact you when it’s the right time to you to have yours
• Please act on your invite when it comes, and make sure you attend your appointments when you arrange them;
• Please continue to abide by all the social distancing and hand hygiene guidance, which will still save lives.

For patients concerned that they may have coronavirus or may have come into contact with someone who has, the NHS 111 online service has created coronavirus pages that tell patients what they should do based on their particular circumstances.    These can be accessed at: https://111.nhs.uk/service/covid-19

To protect patients and staff the practice has from Tuesday 17th March 2020 changed ALL APPOINTMENTS TO TELEPHONE TRIAGE  – PLEASE DO NOT COME TO THE PRACTICE UNLESS YOU HAVE BEEN SPECIFICALLY ADVISED TO DO SO BY A DOCTOR OR NURSE – PLEASE PHONE TO ARRANGE WHATEVER IT IS YOU NEED.    If you have concerns about Coronavirus please get advice from NHS 111 online DO NOT PHONE THE PRACTICE as you will only be re-directed to NHS 111.

Please use our online service – SYSTM1 Online  to order repeat medications if you can  (click on order Repeat Prescriptions on our website to access or download the APP)   to and ensure you have a chemist set up to collect your prescriptions electronically.   You can access SYSTM1 online from any smartphone with the APP or via the internet.    If you do not have a login or a nominated pharmacy this can be arranged over the phone for you.

NHS111 online is where you get a sick note for your employer if you are off due to symptoms or having to self islolate – YOU WILL NOT GET THIS FROM THE PRACTICE.   There is a link below to take you to this page.

We are very sorry for the inconvenience these drastic changes in service may cause but we assure you the Doctors and Staff are following all the current guidance and doing all we can to ensure we can continue to offer essential services to all our patients.

Bev McLean, Business Manager

Please find useful links to more information below:

https://111.nhs.uk/isolation-note     USE THIS TO GENERATE A SICK NOTE IF YOU ARE OFF WORK 

This is guidance on Social Distancing and who is Vulnerable:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-guidance-on-social-distancing-and-for-vulnerable-people/guidance-on-social-distancing-for-everyone-in-the-uk-and-protecting-older-people-and-vulnerable-adults 

General Update Information:

https://www.leedsccg.nhs.uk/health/coronavirus/

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/wuhan-novel-coronavirus