vaccines delivered is not the same as vaccines given
I meant "in arms"..... and 4th in the world is pretty good.
this is a huge programme and not to be underestimated. I know a few people who are involved in the commercial, supply chain and logistical side of it snd they are working their backsides off and feel the weight of hope and expectation from the public all too well. This wont go 100% smoothly...that's a guarantee. It's unprecedented in its scale and complexity. A programme a fraction of the size od this one under normal circumstances would be in the planning for years, so if we're going to jump on ever error made then we're in for a long and bumpy ride. Best to let those involved crack on and give them the space they need to deliver without laying on additional and unrealistic expectations. They're all working every hour, under immense pressure and are as desperate as the rest of us to see the back of COVID and crack on with our lives.
It's one of the biggest logistical projects in world history tbh, a perfect storm of speed and longterm, demand exceeding supply and constant efforts to push that supply to the max, tight time constraints, politics, etc- it's going to go wrong, a lot. It's OK- obviously waste should be kept to a minimum but if the system was built around perfection, zero or tiny wastage, never overpromising and never overdelivering it'd basically just mean slowing it down. There's a point where the big efficiencies crush the little ones.
I have no idea exactly where that point actually is, to be fair, but it's bound to involve situations like this.
I think the supposedly Luddite, lazy, inefficient NHS are doing really quite well indeed - again.
Now the awful hand the incompetents of the Tory government dealt them? That’s another story. Couldn’t manage a lockdown in a Yale factory that BoJo.
However glad to see a British institution nationalised in the various nations showing the private enterprise enthusiasts how its done.
Well done NHS, be you physicians, nurses cleaners, porters, or administrators. Even the logistics guys are doing pretty darn well in the circumstances. As Wobliscott says you ain’t got a hope of it going perfectly vaccination-wise - but it is going pretty well.
Just spent my lunch hour helping Mrs. Jay complete her E-Learning Fire Marshall cert so she can volunteer to vaccinate at the weekends. She's qualified to give vaccinations, has been giving the Flu jab for years, all her anaphylaxis training etc is up to date etc.
But no, you can't give jabs until you can tell us which Fire Extinguisher you use on Electrical fires, and then spend two days being assessed... again.
I’ve PayPal gifted £5k to DrP but not heard back. Does anyone here know him?
Don't know, but he's just bought my carbon XC bike off the Classifieds. Didn't even haggle.
Knock this up the command chain at DHSC DrJ - there are sympathetic ears but it is madness.
Quick, down to Tesco at weekend and stab everyone who goes through the door. No stab, no shop !
Whereas, where I work, we got an email on Wednesday saying that they weren’t sending any Pfizer vaccine for next week after all, so all the clinics (covering 240000 population) that were booked next week have had to be cancelled... so DrP has been sent some of our vaccine...
However I’ve been vaccinating this morning and they have been adding slots to this afternoon’s list to try and get more people in today. I jabbed a guy who called in to collect his repeat prescription and was sent down the corridor to get his jab.
Not sure what the expiry is on the the batch I was using up today but it appeared to be a nearly full box at 9 am so am guessing we’ve got all weekend to use it up. 195 vials in a box and 6 doses per vial. We were told today only to give to carers if they are over 70 so I presume that means not panicking too much about having lots left over.
We’ve had to be very flexible that’s for sure.
Meanwhile elsewhere in the country!;
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-55755529
Well that makes sense... I’m in Yorkshire. We’ve done 6% of the total population. Not sure what percentage of over 80s, but we were told on Wednesday if we’d done more than 60% we’d be asked to concentrate on housebound rather than sending people to vaccination centres.
My only experience so far is with the “NHS professionals “ recruitment process and the outsourced background checks.
It’s taken a month so far and I’ve no idea when my F2F training will be to allow me to start. All online modules done 15 days ago. Nothing happens in parallel and every task required adds another delay before progression.
It’s painful, but hopefully in a few weeks I’ll be online, releasing a HCP back to the front line.
I’ve PayPal gifted £5k to DrP but not heard back. Does anyone here know him?
You knew the risks.....
Dr erm.. T?
It can get worse - the NE of England having supplies halved next week as a reward for achieving such high vaccination rates. If those 'diverted' vaccines now start showing up as bonus boxes which risk being spoiled - that would be lunacy.
I heard I’m did 400000 jabs today. If that’s true (and it probably isn’t) it’s damn good going
Meanwhile at my local surgery they’ve had less than 100 doses. Thats a surgery that covers almost 20000 folks.
It is fair to say it is lumpy everywhere though. In my part of London, our local GP practice, whose administration is pretty challenging, is leading for our area and they have been knocking it out of the park. Have been onto 70 year olds for a couple of weeks so a long way ahead of schedule yet London lags the rest of England.
Not wanting to downplay the stress and issues it creates at the front line, but if things weren't at least a bit chaotic I'd be concerned that it might be possible to go faster.
I've been impressed by how quickly my older relatives have been getting called up, and also the efforts made by GPs to avoid wastage of surplus - I know two healthcare workers who have received the vaccine this way.
While things like that mentioned in the OP are no doubt frustrating, it's quite likely the folk doing the admin and logistics are also working round the clock trying to carry out a huge rollout program in a very short period of time.
Mistakes will be made, pretty much inevitable given the scale and timescales involved.
Have been onto 70 year olds for a couple of weeks so a long way ahead of schedule
That's good.... Although it may be that they have a different demographic or all their >80s are in hospital 😟
Dad, a very healthy 70yrs and 6 weeks was told today he's being jabbed tomorrow in York.
Missed messages as to whether it's 3 or 12 weeks to his second. Throttling back Yorkshire cos they've been doing a good job is ridiculous, when they could crack on and get peoples 2nd doses done quick.
I won't say what my friend, who's senior in Bristol's roll out, has told me. But every week I'm surprised at how the tories can go even lower in my estimations.
The ****s.
The idea is to do all the older age groups and them move down. This means if some areas are behind (for whatever reason, the focus will move to the areas are behind. It is not throttling it is focusing the resources on the target groups. No one in the regions appears to be complaining that London is behind the curve and that there are many Over 80's there who should be done before the Over 70's in 'their' region. We are all in this together.
(By all means have a gone at the Tories for their failure to reduce the impact of the pandemic, but at least they listened to the experts and were first in the queue to get the vacancies. In practical terms the politicians have **** all to do with the rollout of the the vaccinations - be thankful for that.)
so mrs b has her interview to become a NHS jabber, she has worked within NHS for 30+ yrs she was a registered nurse and is now a registered midwife for 28yrs.
She has to do a "teams" interview on Tuesday and has to provide proof of her eligibility to work within the UK ie Passport and an up-to-date utility bill.
Madness
Wow, what a complete ****ing mess. My dad is 91, lives in North Devon and had his vaccination booked for Monday 25th.
He received a phone call this morning to say it has been cancelled due to the fact they don't have enough vaccines.
Who is in charge of this shit show?
Who is in charge of this shit show?
Ultimately Matt Hancock
Just second dose everyone on their first visit over the next 72hrs.
Can't be done as Dr P (or is it T now?) would be removed from the vaccination panel. Word from on high is 12 weeks only or lose your authorisation.
jim25 I can tell you that wasn’t due to human error and it’s definitely not a ‘shit show’. Devon is ahead of trajectory on the vaccination programme, they are doing an amazing job at the peak of the third wave with hospitals rammed and taking patients from other parts of the country to help out. NHS clinicians and managers are working their arses off here and across the country to get this done on top of what is always the busiest time of year. This weekend the vaccination teams will be all out finishing off giving the jab to everyone in care homes. Your dad will have his jab delayed a few days, some countries have barely got their vaccination programme off the ground. Give them a break.
Madness
Are midwives qualified for giving vaccines?
Maybe not, so she has to go through the training to be up to date the same as everyone else taking part.
Edit: seems like they can, so training is probably minimal.
Right which one of you leaked to the press, https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/covid-vaccine-over-my-dead-body-are-we-wasting-a-drop-of-this-gqrn5qc80?shareToken=38953c5fb788bd01878632004360bc88
The way the article is written it sounds like it was last week so guess it was the same delivery driver that’s done the same thing again.
Huge thanks her to EVERYONE involved in this massive effort.
Its hugely humbling.
Anyone that bad mouthes the NHS in front of me can expect to receive a mostly polite response pointing out the error of their ways.
Sod the queen.
Good bless the NHS.💜
Edit: seems like they can, so training is probably minimal.
She can jab 💉
She has to do the vaccine related stuff online, fair enough.
It's the proof of eligibility to work when she has been working for NHS for 30+ yrs. She has to put down her current employer and give 2 references, if you currently work for NHS please state which dept/role etc. Surely a simple HR check could eliminate much of this unnecessary bureaucracy. Buts its the NHS pen pusher way I suppose
Are midwives qualified for giving vaccines?
They're the ones that give the post birth jab if your offspring is a different blood type. Probably a product knowledge brush up required.
Bruneep
I can fully empathise with your Wife and I had the added "bonus" of not currently working (former Rapid Response Paramedic) and have moved from Scotland to England recently, so no proof of current address.
I was contacted weeks ago by NHSP who had already done all the checks and approved me last June for T&T and I had also completed all the basic statutory training. Guess what, that doesn't count as they won't use the previous info and are also taking up references AGAIN! The vax specific training modules are a nightmare as I'm using my phone while waiting for broadband!
I am at the point of telling them to stuff it, particularly when you read of people already giving jabs with absolutely no previous experience.
bruneep - part at least of that is due to tory xenophobia again. IIRC ! There was a requirement made that employers must check employment status everytime a new role is offered
Edit: seems like they can, so training is probably minimal
I'm half way through my vaccinators face to face training day and there are St John Ambulance members in my room doing exactly the same training so..... 🤷🏻♂️
That’s good…. Although it may be that they have a different demographic or all their >80s are in hospital 😟
Unlikely to be the latter, gladly, as we have one of the lowest, if not the lowest, number of cases (both cumulative and current) in London (and the country). London has fewer 80+ but I presume that is taken care of in allocations - although these wont be perfect.
yup...that's us!!!
The 'standoff' was the request to be able to move teh vaccine to another site...
DrP
The ‘standoff’ was the request to be able to move teh vaccine to another site
what was the outcome? we've been told in no uncertain terms that we can't move the vaccine (either type)
A bit late PJay but
But no, you can’t give jabs until you can tell us which Fire Extinguisher you use on Electrical fires, and then spend two days being assessed… again.
Standard advice from me (in a previous life) when people whittered on about fire extinguishers was, "They're by the door for a reason, that way you can admire them when leaving safely to let the professionals deal with it".
I've been doing a few volunteer shifts at a nearby city VC.
Yesterday we disposed of only 1 vaccine at the end of the day and were busy throughout. It ran smoothly throughout.
You're going to get the odd foul-up in something as big as this, but it's not all bad news. It's very easy to focus on the mistakes and overlook what's going well.
Just my penny's worth....
I would just like to say to all those who have decided to vaccinate... thank you! you are great and you are intelligent people. This small gesture is for you:
FYI I applied to train as a vaccinator and have been doing all the security checks, providing references, online training etc.
I think the NHS has contracted out a 3rd party to manage the recruitment and it isn't going fast.
I believe they have finished all the checks on me and now are waiting to see if an NHS trust? wants to use me, but I don't know for sure.
I applied 25 days ago.
I get an email today saying that one of the sites has had TWO EXTRA PFIZER CASES DELIVERED….
That’s 1400 EXTRA vaccines that were NOT expected. That haven’t had patients booked in to receive. That will perish in just over 72 hours.
same thing happened at my wife's practice. It is not an isolated incident
Mrs b has a start date of 8th Feb. Still has the references to be checked and get her NHS ID (already has) Uniform (already has).
