| NHS now inviting those aged 44+ to have their vaccination People aged 44 are the latest age group to be invited to book their Covid-19 jab, from today. Around half a million 44-year olds will receive a text inviting them to get their jab through the national booking service. This comes alongside the latest figures that show that more than two thirds of people aged 45 to 49 have now received their first vaccination. The decision to move to people aged 40-43 will be set out in the coming days with the NHS vaccinating in line with JCVI advice and as supplies allow. As with previous age groups, those who prefer to wait to receive an invitation from their local GP service are able to do so. Surrey Heartlands vaccination programme – some numbers As at Sunday (18-Apr), Surrey Heartlands had delivered around 680,000 vaccines via local GP sites, Hospital Hubs, Community Pharmacies and the Vaccination Centre at Epsom Racecourse. Of these around 160,000 are second doses. Overall Surrey Heartlands continues to perform well and in many areas is exceeding the national average. For example, for people aged over 55 uptake of first doses exceeds 80% and is almost 100% for those aged 75-79. For second doses, the story shows a similar picture for most age groups. Second doses Second doses are routinely offered around 11 weeks from the first dose being given. A Local GP-led vaccination site will contact individuals by text or by telephone to arrange an appointment to receive a second dose. In exceptional cases some people will be invited earlier. Please don’t contact the CCG or your GP practice about your 2nd dose appointment unless you’ve not been contacted by the 11th week. Please be patient. If you do need to contact us, details are available on our website: www.surreyheartlandsccg.nhs.uk or via our vaccination enquiry line 0300 561 2500 (Monday-Friday 9.00 am – 4.00 pm). Those who booked via the National Booking System will have made their second appointment at the time of booking. Frequently asked questions (FAQs) |
| You can find a comprehensive set of FAQs on the local programme on our website here. |
| Useful links FAQs NHS.UK Covid-19 vaccine GOV.UK Covid-19 vaccination programme Data release Information on priority groups |
Tag Archives: Surrey Heartlands Health and Care Partnership
Surrey Heartlands Covid Partner Newsletter
From: COMMS (NHS SURREY HEARTLANDS CCG) <syheartlandsccg.comms@nhs.net>
Sent: 10 March 2021 17:34
Subject: Surrey Heartlands Covid-19 Vaccination Programme Partner Update
10th March 2021
| Partner update 10th March 2021 | ||
| Welcome to our regular Covid-19 vaccination update. This short update will be published and circulated every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, in addition to our weekly vaccination newsletter. If you wish to subscribe/unsubscribe please email us at: syheartlandsccg.comms@nhs.net | ||
| Large-scale vaccination service to move from Epsom Downs Racecourse to Sandown Park From 17th May, our large vaccination service at Epsom Downs Racecourse – which people book via the National Booking system – will be transferring to Sandown Park Racecourse. As the country moves out of lockdown restrictions and plans to phase the return of horse racing events at Epsom Downs emerge, we need to relocate the vaccination centre from Epsom Downs to Sandown Park. Vaccination appointments for those eligible will continue at Epsom Racecourse until 15th May. From 17th May all appointments will take place at Sandown Park. Once invited people should continue to book their appointment for the vaccination centre though the National Booking system. We expect the move to Sandown Park to be made without disruption and are grateful to the Jockey Club for their commitment to continue supporting the vaccination programme in Surrey. Local people booking appointments now may receive their first dose at Epsom Racecourse and second dose at Sandown Park. Details on appointment bookings can be found on our FAQS. The site at Epsom also accommodates a Local Vaccination Service which is managed by local GPs. This service will also re-locate within the same timeframe and it is expected to remain within the local Epsom area. National Booking system trialling text invitations for Covid-19 jab Yesterday NHS England announced that the NHS national team will now start texting people inviting them to book their Covid-19 jab, making it quicker and easier to get an appointment. Previously all invitations via the National Booking system were made via letter. Nationally, almost 400,000 people aged 55 and over and 40,000 unpaid carers who are now eligible for the vaccination will receive an invitation by text as well as by letter. Similar to text messages which are already sent out by many local GP-led vaccination services, the message will include a web link for those eligible to click and reserve an appointment at the large-scale vaccination centres of pharmacies. The service will also send text reminders 2-3 weeks after the original alert to encourage people to make their appointment if they haven’t already. Texts will arrive in advance of the standard letter, meaning if the trial is successful the solution could enable the NHS to react faster to changing vaccine supplies and fill appointments quickly. This will help increase uptake of the jab, particularly as the NHS moves on to younger age groups. Frequently asked questions (FAQs) | ||
| You can find a comprehensive set of FAQs on the local programme on our website here. I have had my first vaccination. Do I still have to wear a face covering when shopping and can I hug my grandchildren? Having the first vaccination jab does not guarantee we cannot catch coronavirus but it should reduce how seriously we are affected by the virus if we catch it. This means that even after you have had your first vaccination you could still catch and spread coronavirus to your family and the people you come into contact with. It is therefore really important that you continue to follow current guidance to stay at home as much as possible, continue with social distancing, wear a face covering and regularly wash your hands. | ||
| Useful links · FAQs · NHS.UK Covid-19 vaccine · GOV.UK Covid-19 vaccination programme · Data release · Information on priority groups | ||
| ———————————————————————————————————————————— Surrey Heartlands Communications Team, 10th March 2021 | ||
Covid-19 Vaccination Programme – Briefing Update from Surrey Heartlands
I received this update from Surrey Heartlands Health and Care Partnership:
Our vaccination programme scaled up considerably this week with the launch of our large vaccination centre at Epsom Racecourse on Monday (11 January). This site is also shared with some of our GP-led vaccination services. It means significantly more people can be vaccinated and is initially focusing on people over 80 years of age and health and care workers.
Secretary of State for Health and Care, Matt Hancock and Professor Stephen Powis, National Medical Director also visited the launch to hear from staff and patients about the progress being made. National, regional and local media followed the action and you can see some of the highlights from BBC, Sky News, ITV, Surrey Live and over on our Twitter feed.
89 year old Moira Edwards from Epsom was first to receive her vaccine and said it was “extremely important” to get it.
We also now have all our planned GP-led services up and running and the first pharmacy vaccination site open in Guildford.
The full list of services is:
We are starting to receive more supplies of the Oxford Astra Zeneca vaccine. As this is easier to transport it means significant progress is also being made with vaccinating care home residents and staff.
We have also been vaccinating at the Royal Surrey County Hospital in Guildford and Surrey and Sussex Hospitals in Redhill. Other NHS staff hubs will join shortly to cover all frontline health and care staff across the county. As more vaccine becomes available, we will move – where possible – to providing services 12 hours/day, 7 days/week.
Booking a vaccination
If you are aged over 80 you may have received a letter from NHS England inviting you for a vaccine at a larger vaccination centre which is located up to 45 minutes from your home. This is part of the national booking system. On receipt of this letter an appointment can be made online or by calling 119. Find out more. You may also be contacted by your local GP Network. These appointments will be available in a community setting and could be closer to home. We would recommend that you take an appointment as soon as possible – this may be at a local GP-led service.
Those over 80s who haven’t been contacted yet will be invited soon; they won’t be missed out.
We will then expand the programme to further cohorts, starting with the over 75s. All vaccination sites will keep you safe from COVID-19 through a range of measures including cleaning and disinfecting and having social distancing in waiting areas.
Please also wear a face covering to your appointment.
Help us to help you :
- Please do not contact your GP practice or the wider NHS to seek a vaccine, we will contact you (if you haven’t heard yet, we haven’t forgotten you)
- When we do contact you, please attend your booked appointments
- Please do not arrive too early for your vaccination appointment to help us maintain social distancing measures
New support centre to manage enquiries
We have set up a dedicated mailbox and telephone line to manage enquiries – the email address is: syheartlandsccg.vaccination@nhs.net
The phone number will go live on Monday and details will be published on our website (www.surreyheartlandsccg.nhs.uk) and in our next update.
Covid-19 Testing in Surrey
As you will be aware, there has been a significant focus on COVID-19 swab testing in line with national guidance. This has been developing and progressing swiftly at a local level and in response to the guidance and the requirement to expand the testing capability quickly, a core group of system partners from Health and Care Partners has been set up. This group will co-ordinate the delivery of coronavirus testing to all eligible people across Surrey.
CURRENT STATUS
The team is working hard to review and target priority areas first, with a view on using all the options available to build resource to meet the demand. The council is aware that this approach needs to be urgently stepped up and will be updating you as we continue to develop plans for achieving this target.
Who is eligible for a test?
Essential workers living or working in Surrey, who are self-isolating either because they have symptoms or someone in their household has symptoms, are eligible to register with Surrey’s testing hub.
Essential workers are those outlined in the Government’s list of essential workers prioritised for testing. We continue to expand our testing capacity to include new groups as part of the Government’s phased approach.
These new groups eligible for testing are:
- anyone over 65 with symptoms
- anyone with symptoms whose work cannot be done from home (for example, construction workers, shop workers, emergency plumbers and delivery drivers)
- anyone who has symptoms of coronavirus and lives with any of those identified above
Anyone who falls into one of the new groups eligible for testing should use the self-referral portal for now.
We are building up the testing capacity to ensure that all care home residents and staff with symptoms are being tested. This will be rolled out shortly to include all care home residents and staff, regardless of whether they have symptoms or not.
NEXT STEPS
The safety of residents and patients is our priority and we are working at pace to ensure we can meet the local need. We will update on progress. In the meantime if you have any specific comments or queries, please do email – surreycovidtesting@surreycc.gov.uk