The Prepping Thread - A Newer Beginning ;)

Auntycaz

All surgeries seem to be doing it differently. My surgery sent me a text in August saying not to contact the surgery they would contact me when to come in. I haven't heard anything yet and my local pharmacy hasn't received their flu vaccines yet.

annieb64

There was something on the local FB page a week ago about surgeries  being ready to administer  flu jabs but although I've  checked our particular  surgerys website and FB page several times there was nothing  about clinics. In the end we phoned  and have appointments next week. I think I'm supposed to have the pneumonia  jab this year but they haven't  said anything  about it. They seem to change the system  every year. Some years they phone or write ,some years a banner appears  outside the surgery and other years we have to chase them up

Auntycaz

I've never had one done at the surgery before. I worked in a pharmacy so had mine done there every year. This will be my first year having the over 65 one so hope its as trouble free as the ones I've had in the past. 

Si_Clist

Nargleblast said:

Which is crackers, Ivy, because that is an appointment slot that could have been offered to someone else.

Crackers indeed.  What a daft system.  Folk missing NHS appointments is a major peeve of mine, and something we're definitely going to crack down on if I ever come to power ....

Nargleblast

Maybe, in all these months that GP surgeries have had reduced numbers of patients coming through the doors, they will have had time to review and tighten up their systems? I am aware of course that they have been running a telephone consultation system instead. That itself concerns me because whilst telephone consultations are fine for some things, there are many times when there is no substitute for having the patient in the room and putting hands on them. I am concerned that GPs are getting deskilled and that maybe it would have been a thought to deploy them on a rota system to work alongside doctors in A and E depts and Urgent Care centres during the spring, when hospitals were bouncing with Covid cases. It would have done them good to see at first hand exactly what Covid does to someone and give them an understanding of what life is like for the survivors many months down the line. Certainly that is something I would have addressed if I'd been in a position of power.

dreaming

My brother uses the sme GP practice as me and received his letter re flu jab a week or so ago but could only book for beginning of October. I haven't received a letter yet but I know in previous years they have sent them out on an age-related basis (brother is 6 years older than me). However when I picked up a repeat prescription this morning at the pharmacy round the corner from my house I was asked if I wanted the jab there and then. I accepted as it saves a car journey later in the year and it is done and dusted now. There was another lady waiting when I came out and she said to me "Did it hurt much?". I told her it didn't hurt at all (which it didn't) but she looked very worried.

Nargleblast

Having flu would hurt a darn sight more!

annieb64

I always seem to end up with a sore arm after the flu jab. It's  bad enough to wake me if I roll over in the night. Still it is better than having the flu although I did get the flu or something similar last year in spite of having had the vaccination. 

missychrissy

I went for a Covid test about 4 weeks ago because I had a cough, a slight temp and felt generally unwell. I made the appt online for about an hour later, drove there, did the test and home again. I got the result online within 24 hours, fortunately Neg.

I got an e mail last week with dates for my flu jab. I e mailed back giving the info they requested and the date I wanted the jab and received an e mail 3 days later confirming my appt. I live near Selby in North Yorks and the system is working well here.

GreyQueen

The flu jab season has become a total PITA for me, Covid notwithstanding. I have a serious illness for which I require constant medication and for which I am under hospital care. At diagnosis, the consultant told me I must always have the flu jab as the consequences of me getting the flu would be very serious indeed. For 19 years, under the care of two GP practices in succession, I was invited to have the jab.

On the 20th year, no invite. When I queried this, the surgery told me I no longer met the criteria. I was flabbergasted. I explained my consultant said I must have it, and they shrugged. I said I would go home and ring my consultant’s secretary. In the 5 mins it took me to walk home, the receptionist spoke to the practice manager, who rang me and said I was eligible after all.

I know fine well the consultant has written to the GP and recommended I have the flu shot because I was sent a copy of the letter. It doesn’t seem to make a blind bit of difference. The consultant is exasperated, says giving me the jab is a damned sight cheaper than having me in hospital, but that they can’t make the GP give me the jab, only request it.

For the past three years, I have been refused the NHS flu jab, despite being over 50 and being immuno compromised. They tell me I no longer meet the criteria but totally refuse to tell me who sets the criteria, so I can query it with them. I’ve managed to get jabs via work for the past three years but don’t know if I’ll manage that this year as am presently on sick leave, in which case it’ll be a private jab.

I had an email conversation with the practice recently,  thinking I might be allowed the jab this year as a 50+ patient but no plans for that yet, I can come back to them in December and  see if anything had changed then. Grrrrrrr!