Covid19 Vaccine Information

Thames Avenue Surgery have now come to the end of their COVID-19 vaccination programme.

As a surgery, we have decided NOT to sign up to provide vaccination for the PHASE 2 roll out (under 50 years) in-house.   Over the last year, we have worked incredibly hard to keep up with all our normal work, as well as providing staff for Parkwood and also run vaccination clinics from the surgery.   We have also vaccinated all of our housebound patients ourselves.

We have been committed to providing the service to our older and vulnerable patients, however now that the groups of patients are more mobile, able to travel and book their vaccines at other providers i.e. vaccination centres, we as a surgery feel it is time to concentrate on other health care priorities.

We will be re-starting services that we have had to postpone such as NHS Health Checks and follow-ups.   Extra in-house surgery services including ECG’s and simple wound care will also be commencing soon.

We are not a huge team and have worked many many hours of unpaid time to get the vaccine out there and we feel the time is right now to step back from Covid-19 vaccinations in the surgery and crack on with so many other things people are concerned about.

If you are under 50 and are waiting for a first dose, please do not contact us but book an appointment via the nhs.uk website, the link is below:-

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

New service to help improve COVID-19 vaccine inequalities

The CCG has appointed Involve Kent to provide support to patients who have not yet been vaccinated and may be hesitant about vaccination or underrepresented in the vaccinated population. Translation in a wide range of languages is also available.

Involve Kent will manage a dedicated telephone helpline and advice service to answer questions from the community relating to vaccine hesitancy, provide assurance, information and signposting to encourage booking and attendance at vaccination centres.

The service is not clinical and does not provide medical advice, but refers to NHS accredited and assured information sources. The service has been launched from Monday 28 June and operatse between 8.30am and 5pm, Monday to Friday.  The helpline telephone number is 0330 320 4444.

Public Health England have produced a very helpful factsheet which addresses concerns on vaccine safety – see the link below:-

2021.05.12_Vaccines_Q_A_Factsheet_A4_Web

Thank you for your understanding.

Checking Vaccination status with the NHS App

People who wish to travel abroad can now use the NHS App to show they have been fully vaccinated.   A full course is currently two doses of any approved COVID-19 vaccine.  Vaccine status will be available from the NHS App which can be downloaded from app stores, with more information available on gov.uk.  The CCG has also published information on it’s website.

If you are unable to access this service and you have had two vaccines, you can request a paper letter from the NHS by calling 119.   Patients should only call 119 if they have had their second dose more than five working days beforehand.   It may take seven working days for the letter to arrive.

Government and NHS information has made it clear that GP practices cannot provide proof of vaccination status so patients should not contact the surgery.