From the Oxted Health Centre Patient Participation Group:
The following is from Dr Hill
I thought that I would write an update, so everyone is aware of our work over the last few weeks as well as explaining changes to our “normal” primary care work.
We were asked to set up a Covid vaccination clinic for the patients of Oxted and Lingfield practices who form the South Tandridge PCN. Godstone surgery patients are no longer provided for by our Primary Care Network (PCN) but have been transferred to North Tandridge PCN.
Because we have our surgeries at Oxted and Lingfield open to patients (though following an initial triage to minimise face to face contact), we were asked to establish a vaccination clinic elsewhere. We were very kindly offered the council chambers at Tandridge District Council offices – and the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) have signed a contract to lease an area of the council offices for the period of vaccination.
We had no choice in when we received our first batches of vaccine as the vaccination centres were prioritised centrally. Nor do we have a choice in when the vaccines arrive. When they do, they have been thawing out since despatch and so we have a limited time to then use them – 1000 doses in 3 days for the Pfizer vaccine which cannot be transported from the site at Tandridge District Council offices.
The Joint Committee on Vaccinations and Immunisations has prioritised the groups of patients who we should be vaccinating see below – and the table below that demonstrates their rationale in trying to save lives.
JCVI advises that the first priorities for the COVID-19 vaccination programme should be the prevention of mortality and the maintenance of the health and social care systems. As the risk of mortality from COVID-19 increases with age, prioritisation is primarily based on age. The order of priority for each group in the population corresponds with data on the number of individuals who would need to be vaccinated to prevent one death, estimated from UK data obtained from March to June 2020:
1. residents in a care home for older adults and their carers
2. all those 80 years of age and over and frontline health and social care workers
3. all those 75 years of age and over
4. all those 70 years of age and over and clinically extremely vulnerable individuals
5. all those 65 years of age and over
6. all individuals aged 16 years to 64 years with underlying health conditions which put them at higher risk of serious disease and mortality
7. all those 60 years of age and over
8. all those 55 years of age and over
9. all those 50 years of age and over
It is estimated that taken together, these groups represent around 99% of preventable mortality from COVID-19 https://www.gov.uk/.../joint-committee-on-vaccination-and..." target="_new">click here
In South Tandridge PCN, we have vaccinated all consented care home patients and care home staff.
We have vaccinated all non-housebound patients over 80 who have consented for the covid 19 vaccine.
We have vaccinated many front-line workers – medical, dental, opticians, pharmacists, first responders, social workers. Many of these we were able to vaccinate as we were able to get extra doses from the vaccines which we were sent in multi dose vials.
Although initially, we were asked to continue to provide primary care services as usual, we have now been asked to reduce some of our usual services to be able to prioritise the vaccination programme. Also, with the present high rates of covid-19 circulating in the community, we have reduced our face-to-face appointments again to keep staff and patients safe. We are grateful for your understanding of this – which is a very different concept for all of us. Many questions and concerns can be dealt with remotely – by telephone, video, online, text but if you have concerns about this, please let us know.
We have prioritised immunisations – particularly for children to prevent other diseases and we have achieved our highest rates of childhood vaccinations in the last 6 months – over 80% of those eligible.
We have also offered weekend and evening clinics for cervical smear testing and again have achieved our highest rates for several years partly as a consequence of this.
We have also worked hard to ensure that our vulnerable patients (particularly those with learning difficulties and serious mental illness) have their annual health reviews to ensure that they are able to access health services – and have achieved very high numbers of these. We have also worked to ensure that these vulnerable patients are able to access secondary care with reasonable adjustments for their care being requested at the point of referral.
We have been overwhelmed by the support of our Patient Participation Groups and local voluntary services and charities and local communities as well as local businesses - and I would like to thank these groups, together with our staff, who have worked tirelessly to provide these extraordinary services for our patients in South Tandridge. Special mention to Ronnie Godfrey our manager and Dr Bahar Maybrey who has led the vaccine programme and to staff who have come in on their days off and at weekends and bank holidays to support the vaccination programme.
Dr David Hill
Senior Partner Oxted Health Centre
Clinical Director South Tandridge Primary Care Network
The following shows the number of Oxted patients that have received vaccinations -
Care Homes: 169 patients given the Covid vaccine out of possible 187 - so over 90%
80+: 845 vaccinated of non-housebound - 94% - Some patients unwell in hospital, some living elsewhere during lockdown. we are continuing to try and contact
75-79: 456 of non-housebound have received vaccine of possible 672 - 67%
In total 1859 (over 10%) of our patients have had Covid vaccine to date.
This weekend (January 23/24) we hope to complete 75-79 cohort as far as possible and start 70-74 cohort as well as those clinically extremely vulnerable - when we aim to administer 700 Oxford (Astra Zenica) vaccines. We have limited supplies of vaccine at present but aim to give all that we receive immediately.
Attached is a "collage" by one of our members, Chantelle, of comments made on social media. It is good that everyone is being supportive of the fantastic effort being made by the staff of the Health Centre and the many volunteers that are giving so much help.
Download PDF:
Vaccination comments
Kind regards
David Borer
Chairman Oxted PPG
