Flu Vaccination Programme

Members of our community eligible for a free flu vaccination have started to receive letters inviting them to book an appointment. Vaccinations will start to be administered on 1 October. There are available appointments for vaccinations through the whole of October and November.  

It is more important than ever that everyone eligible for a flu vaccination takes up this offer, and we are pleased to see the number of people who are coming forward to book an appointment.  

However, because of COVID-19 our flu programme is both bigger and different this year. Appointments need to be pre-booked and will be provided in different locations. We have set up a completely new booking system to deal with this.

The positive response to book an appointment immediately on receipt of the letter has placed exceptional demand on our new vaccination booking line. We have received over 60,000 call attempts and 4000 emails over the past three days. It is clear we have underestimated the immediate demand to make an appointment as soon as letters were received.

We therefore need your assistance and patience, and can give you reassurance that everyone who is eligible will receive their vaccination over the next few months.

We ask that if you cannot immediately get through to the vaccination booking team that you do not immediately redial but that you ring again at a later time or on a different day. If you have emailed us please wait until a member of our team contacts you. Please do not re-email us.  

Ralph Roberts, Chief Executive said “I fully understand why people are frustrated about not being able to get through to our booking line. I apologise for the delays that many of you are experiencing and any inconvenience and worry this is causing. We recognise, in hindsight, that we could have been better prepared and we are making every effort to expand our booking capacity and learning from what is a new experience for us all.

“I can assure that our team are working incredibly hard and we will ensure that everyone does get an appointment so that you receive your flu vaccination over the next few months.” 

Recognising the flu vaccination programme is different this year we have set out below a number of frequently asked questions :

 

How are Flu Vaccinations being given this year? 

Because of COVID-19 we have changed the way in which Flu Vaccinations are administered this year. Depending on your circumstances the Flu vaccination will be given through a number of different routes:
 

• Those under 65 who have underlying health conditions and children aged 2-5 years will be vaccinated at their GP Practice. This group will receive letters in due course. Please do not call your GP practice to book your appointment until you receive your letter or a request from your GP Practice to do so. 

• Children of school age who receive a flu vaccination will have this carried out via the School nursing service. You will be contacted about this in due course and do not need to contact the booking line or your GP Practice. 

• Those aged 65 and over will be vaccinated by NHS Borders at a local community venue. This group have now received their letters and should call our booking line or email the address noted in your letter. There is plenty of time to do this over the next few weeks so if you cannot get through please try again later or email us. Please do not call your GP Practice as they will not be able to offer you an appointment. 

• Household members of anyone who was shielding should book via the NHS Borders booking line or by email. 

• The vaccination programme is also being extended this year to those aged 55 – 64 who do not have an underlying health condition. To ensure that those who are most at risk are vaccinated first, people aged 55-64 will not be vaccinated until December and no appointments will be offered for this age group until then. If you are 55-64 and you are in one of the other groups that is eligible for the flu vaccine, for example, you have an underlying health condition which puts you at risk from flu, you will be invited earlier.

  

Why are GP Practices not doing the normal Flu Vaccination programme this year?

It has been agreed this year, across Scotland, that with the flu programme being extended, vaccinations taking longer and needing to be done by individual appointment that it was necessary for the vaccinations to be provided in a number of different ways. Around half of the Borders population are eligible to be vaccinated this year and this would not have been possible for our GPs to do with the impact of COVID. However the GPs will continue to offer vaccines to those under 65 with underlying health conditions and children aged 2 – 5 years old.

This will allow our GP practices to continue to manage their normal day to day services while they are having to work differently because of COVID-19.