The NHS has decided that if it can't rely on the government to sort this mess out then they are bloody well going to do it themselves and do it quickly and efficiently. Luckily, the ordering and supply of vaccine is something that has been over, rather than under done. The government have ordered 367 million doses of vaccine from the various companies. For a population of 67 million, where about 20% of those are children and therefore not eligible for this vaccine, this does feel a bit like overkill but we are a nation that loves and approves of vaccination and so no one minds. It would be a different story in France, where the population is a little more sceptical.
Somehow the NHS managed to persuade the government that they were perfectly capable of organising a vaccine rollout programme. This is what GP practices are for and have been very poorly used in this pandemic, so far. Rather than farm the business out to a mate who will charge a huge consultancy fee and do quite a bad job the government have finally seen the point of using the local infrastructure that is already there. If only they'd given all the money that Dido Harding had in June to GP practices then they could have employed a gaggle of Maureens to sit in a room and telephone contacts of every one of their patients who has tested positive. People answer the telephone to their doctor's surgery and there's no messing with a Maureen.
Now, GP surgeries are getting as many people vaccinated as quickly as they can. They are following the JVCI guidelines but there's no hanging about.
In our house we have been laughing at one of Darren Dutton's Twitter videos of Matt Hancock, where he adds ABBA to make a brilliant song. https://twitter.com/Darren_Dutton/status/1361423938249760774?s=20
GP surgeries have been doing such a brilliant and fast job that occasionally mistakes are made. Sometimes people are invited for an appointment when they aren't in any risk group at all but something has been entered to their notes in error. There was a particularly funny one that hit the press yesterday. A journalist at the Liverpool Echo was invited for a vaccine. He was surprised, as he was young (32), fit and healthy. It turned out that his height had been entered into the computer as 6.2cm rather than 6'2" and that made him grossly obese. He writes about the experience so well that you should read his own words https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/invited-covid-vaccine-because-nhs-19857990 I particularly liked the clever line about slithering around Liverpool.
We had just laughed about this article when we missed a call from the GP surgery. They left a message saying that the Long Suffering Husband was being invited for his vaccine and could he call the surgery. We were confused. The LSH is in his 50s and again, fit and healthy. Hypochondria isn't on the list of recognised conditions.
"Maybe they've put your height in wrong," I suggested.
He decided to ring them and check. He didn't want to take a vaccine for someone who was more at risk.
When he finally got through the woman on the other end seemed as confused as he was. She could see that he'd been called but didn't really know why. She put him on hold and went to talk to someone.
"Do you think it might be because you are a bit chunky?" I asked him.
"I don't know. What would the criteria be?"
We sat and listened to the hold music.
"She's gone hasn't she?" he wondered.
"I hope she's not having the, "How do I tell him it's because he's a fatty?" conversation," I said, imagining the poor woman's embarrassment as the practice nurse explains that it's the LSH's wobbly belly that has put him in the new 'at risk' category.
Eventually, she came back on the phone.
"Errrm. I've spoken to the practice nurses and they think it might be.....um....well....what's your BMI?"
The LSH confessed that he didn't actually know but did agree that he could do with losing a bit. The woman assured him that absolutely no mistake had been made and that he was definitely on the list of chubsters that needed to get the jab immediately.
So, this morning at 8.30 he obliged and here is the obligatory social media photo to prove it.
He said that it was all very fast and efficient, which is just what we would expect from the NHS. There's no way they are leaving something as important as this to chance.
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