OT: Covid testing when being vaccinated

Seems as if the problems have continued judging by some Facebook comments. Hope it gets sorted soon. Some were reporting 1hr 40mins queue times.

You'd need to know if it were an appointment system where you were kept waiting - or a turn up any time one.

This is an appointment site. As I said earlier, I joined the queue at about 22:20 with a 22:30 appointment. I was jabbed at

Chris

My wife had an appointment at 16:20 yesterday at a local medical centre. I took her and she joined the queue at about 16:17. She was in by 16:20 and back out by 16:40, including the 15 minute wait afterwards! It was very busy, car park full and more cars parked along the road. I heard today that they did over 1000 vaccinations there on Saturday. During the time I was waiting, the queue never exceeded 10 people and disappeared completely at times. They've got it well organised there - the marshals were all volunteers, but I don't know about those giving the vaccinations.

Incidentally, she got the Pfizer vaccine, while the woman next to her, who had an allergy problem, got the AZ vaccine.

My vaccinator's badge said "Health Visitor". In SWMBO's case it said "District Nurse".

Yup - can only speak for those I've heard from locally, but if organised by your GP (usually in conjunction with other local practices) very little in the way of queueing if at all. I had the same with my flu jab - in and out. Unlike previous years where there was a bit of a wait.

But isn't the advice not to turn up to early? That's the whole point of the appointment times. However, if you are used to the NHS hospital way of assigning appointments in normal times you may come to have come to the conclusion that everyone has been given the same appointment time and it's fist come first served.

Not quite. When I arrived mine was for 17.20; I was about 10-15 minutes early, for reasons already discussed. And the chap right behind me was for 18.00. When I booked I was offered slots at five-minute intervals. I think the point is that while people *try* to arrive on time, there will be a spread. By spreading out the appt times they try to create an even flow of arrivals.

Same here, also didn't have to wait around afterwards for 15 mins (AZ).

I arrived about 5 minutes early, but they were running 20 minutwes late. Was told to wait in the car until a specific time, then book in under a gazebo they had up at the entrance. 5 minute wait inside.

We only had to wait 15 minutes if we owned up to any sort of allergy.

A great many years ago, I was given a 9am appointment for an NHS fracture clinic. At 9.30, when there just apperaed to be more people arriving and no-one being seen, I asked at the desk when I would be seen. "HE doesn't come in until 10am, but HE's a busy person, so we don't like to keep HIM waiting." By the time HE deigned to put in an appearance there were 15 people (perhaps busy ones) waiting. Hopefully that attitude has changed.

I've just had to queue :) I wasn't expecting a jab before March but just before 10am this morning I received a text asking if I could attend for a jab this morning. After a couple of text exchanges I had an appointment at 12:30.

I got there with 5 minutes to spare, at a large Freemason hall 5 miles from my home. 10 minutes queuing outside in the cold, 10 minutes of queuing inside in a line to take my details and give me my card for next time. They also took some of my details from my local practice (NHS number etc.) and copied them to the "National NHS database". Another queue for 5 minutes standing, followed by another rotational seating queue and then the jab. Out within 35 minutes but advised to sit in the car in the car park for 15 minutes. There were two marshals in the car park.

When I came out no queuing and only a few cars turned up while I was waiting to drive off. Maybe a lunch break for the staff?

In fairness to the operation it was mentioned that some/all local vaccination halls are going to be closed tomorrow because of the expected adverse weather conditions and many people had been contacted to rearrange their appointments for today. Currently it is 8C and just a little damp here.

It has to have changed due to social distancing. For the moment. Waiting rooms ain't big enough for that now. But I've no doubt it will go back to as it was before.

In my mothers recent experience, not for a consultants' appointment for "aftercare". During Covid some departments are not that busy and when the consultant requested another X ray it had been completed within 20 minutes.

(Pre Covid) My local hospital does have an appointment system for things like blood tests and even if they are running late you will be seen in the order of your unique appointment time. There is a mechanism in place for "emergency" sampling to delay the queue. I have managed to get the first appointment of the day and found that I have had to wait 15 minutes before the staff finish the breakfast coffee and have a chat :)

Nearly 30 years ago my sister had a couple of warts on her fingers, that she could not get rid of and had a few appointments to have them frozen with Nitrogen.

I gave her a lift and waited with her. It was clear that everyone had the same appointment time. What was worse was that she was the first in and her notes went in the basket, followed by those of each new arrival

- and they just took them in turn from the basket and so she was seen last, some 2-1/2 hours later.

Worse was the Manchester Royal Eye Hospital. My father has had to go there numerous times and my mother a few times. Then my wife needed to go a dozen times. Every single time was the same - appointments ranging from 08:45 to 10:15 and each one seen at 12:00 or later. They always ran hours late, but still booked everyone in early. On one memorable occasion, we arrived at 08:30 and weren't seen until 15:45 ... clinic was due to finish at 13:00.

I had to attend Wythenshawe hospital (they'd told me I had cancer and were going to investigate with a camera down into my lungs and another in through the chest wall) and to take biopsies to determine grade and stage - luckily it turned out their diagnosis was wrong! Anyway, I had to come in on Thursday evening, ready for theatre at 11:00 on Friday. The only reason for not coming in of Friday morning? If I was not in the bed on Thursday night, it might get given to someone else and then they'd have to cancel my theatre spot! What was wrong with a simple "Reserved" sign?

I've also lost days of pay when I have arranged my week to accommodate appointments, only for them to cancel them at the last minute - on one occasion, having taken the day off and booked one of our sons into an expensive music practical day, so as to be free to take his older brother for the results of a vital brain scan that we'd been waiting for, they phoned me 20 minutes before the appointment (we live 5 minutes from the hospital and hadn't set off), to tell us that the Consultant was on holiday, his whole clinic was cancelled and they'd forgotten to phone his patients the week before! Even worse than the time and money lost, my wife had had to cancel all her own patients to be able to come to the appointment together!

Over the years I have lost many days of pay due to suddenly cancelled, changed or late running appointments, but no-one seems to care about the consequences of it all for patients or their relatives/carers and we are just expected to put up with it.

The most recent one was just over a year ago, when I took my wife for injections to her hands and knees, only to find that the doctor who was giving them wasn't there - the first the staff knew of it was when the wondered why the waiting room was full and the numbers not going down! It turned out he'd left as his daughter was ill, but hadn't bothered to tell anyone!

Typical nationalised industry behaviour.

Oddly your government wants to take it back more under state control. Wonder why that would be?