Booking a vaccine.

cubegame

Am I missing something here? The government are saying that you should wait for a letter from the NHS about booking a vaccine. However, the letter merely tells you that you are now eligible to book a vaccine and instructs you how to do it via the website or phone. It is generic and the booking service has an eligibility check. Therefore, if you're now in an age group which is bookable you can pootle along to the website and book a vaccine if you are eligible. This would serve to alleviate the anxiety of those who think that their letter is missing! The website is not exactly hard to find (thanks google).

This needs to be common knowledge. Not sure why the government are even using snail mail to get this going!

Nebulous2

It depends where you are. We are being phoned to check any specific needs and book an appointment. 

The point is that surgeries everywhere are fielding a lot of calls, which uses resources they don’t have spare. A bit of patience would help the whole system get organised.  

strawb_shortcake

I'd hazard a guess there's a lot in the 80+ bracket that don't have emails, letter is probably the most efficient way of updating the bulk of patients. 
Our surgery, do use texts as community, my Husband received an update via text and my friends elderly parents got the same message via a letter.

It could also be that means of communication is tailored to your contact preferences, or no mobile number then a letter is produced 

MattMattMattUK

The government will have the home address of people from various records, NHS records, pension records, tax records, electoral roll etc. which means they can identify people by medical need and age group. For all but a tiny percentage of those people they will not have an email and they will not know if that email address is current. 

Practices can send additional correspondence via email, SMS, WhatsApp or phone call if they have that data and agreements in place with patients, but it can not be done centrally. 

cubegame

I'm guessing that once a letter is generated then you're allowed to book on the system. So it is useful to check the website as you may be able to get an appointment sooner. 

Obviously dialling the phone number shouldn't be encouraged as you may stop someone else getting through. 

[Deleted User]

Have you tried to book? I’m guessing at some point they will ask for your NHS number and if it is not your turn it will not let you go any further. 

[Deleted User]

As suspected,  you do need NHS number and letter reference number, therefore anyone can’t just rock up to the site and book:

“You will be asked for your NHS number.

This is a 10 digit number you can find on the letter you received inviting you to book your vaccination appointments. For example, 485 777 3546.”

68ComebackSpecial

MarkN88 said:

As suspected,  you do need NHS number and letter reference number, therefore anyone can’t just rock up to the site and book:

“You will be asked for your NHS number.

This is a 10 digit number you can find on the letter you received inviting you to book your vaccination appointments. For example, 485 777 3546.”

That doesn't appear to be the case of you call to book. Mum's letter arrived Monday last week and when my Dad's hadn't come by Wednesday they decided to call and just book Mum's. When Mum told the booking agent that my Dad's letter hadn't arrived yet she was asked to give his NHS number and they were then given consecutive appointments. Perhaps booking was allowed because they could see that the invitation had been generated.

[Deleted User]

68ComebackSpecial said:

MarkN88 said:

As suspected,  you do need NHS number and letter reference number, therefore anyone can’t just rock up to the site and book:

“You will be asked for your NHS number.

This is a 10 digit number you can find on the letter you received inviting you to book your vaccination appointments. For example, 485 777 3546.”

That doesn't appear to be the case of you call to book. Mum's letter arrived Monday last week and when my Dad's hadn't come by Wednesday they decided to call and just book Mum's. When Mum told the booking agent that my Dad's letter hadn't arrived yet she was asked to give his NHS number and they were then given consecutive appointments. Perhaps booking was allowed because they could see that the invitation had been generated.

Yeah that’s fair enough and the call handler could check that. 

The OP was suggesting anyone who fits the current eligibility could go online and book without a letter, they clearly can’t as they wouldn’t have the reference number to be able to do this. 

neilmcl

MarkN88 said:

68ComebackSpecial said:

MarkN88 said:

As suspected,  you do need NHS number and letter reference number, therefore anyone can’t just rock up to the site and book:

“You will be asked for your NHS number.

This is a 10 digit number you can find on the letter you received inviting you to book your vaccination appointments. For example, 485 777 3546.”

That doesn't appear to be the case of you call to book. Mum's letter arrived Monday last week and when my Dad's hadn't come by Wednesday they decided to call and just book Mum's. When Mum told the booking agent that my Dad's letter hadn't arrived yet she was asked to give his NHS number and they were then given consecutive appointments. Perhaps booking was allowed because they could see that the invitation had been generated.

Yeah that’s fair enough and the call handler could check that. 

The OP was suggesting anyone who fits the current eligibility could go online and book without a letter, they clearly can’t as they wouldn’t have the reference number to be able to do this. 

Actually they can. In my area the Swiftqueue booking system has been widely leaked on social media allowing anyone to go and book online as long as they meet the current eligibility regardless of whether they've received their letter or not.

Now the argument has been whilst it's just been the over-80s on the priority list what does it matter if you have the letter or not, you're not really jumping ahead of anyone as you're already on the top of the list, however now that the over-70s are allowed to get the vaccine this becomes a bit of a problem. The local NHS England body have been trying to tell everyone not to use the booking service without your letter but the cat is pretty much out of the bag now.

neilmcl

MarkN88 said:

As suspected,  you do need NHS number and letter reference number, therefore anyone can’t just rock up to the site and book:

“You will be asked for your NHS number.

This is a 10 digit number you can find on the letter you received inviting you to book your vaccination appointments. For example, 485 777 3546.”

But you don't need your letter to tell you what your NHS umber is. You can easily get this from your GP if you don't already know it. I suspect most people in the higher venerable groups will have loads of GP/hospital appointment letters lying around with their NHS number. That's all that is required to book online.