NHS England have advised us that our first batch of coronavirus vaccinations will be delivered in the next few days. This exciting news is balanced only by the scale of the challenge of administering the vaccine effectively while keeping normal service going.

Plans are still being finalised. We will keep you informed as we learn more. Please note the following for now:

– We will contact you when it is your turn to be vaccinated. Please do not contact us to ask about your vaccination. Please do make sure that we have your up to date contact details. You can update these here (https://rahs.digipractice.org/general-and-admin-enquiry/change-of-personal-details).

– We have been instructed to offer this first batch of vaccinations to patients who are 80 or over. Again, we will contact you when your turn is due. This is slightly different from the published priority list because of the difficulty in getting this brand of vaccine into care homes without it spoiling.

– The vaccine requires two doses, three weeks apart, to be fully effective. We will book your second dose when you make your first appointment.

– We are working with Lordswood Medical Centre to vaccinate the patients of both our practices at the same time.

– You will need to attend for your vaccination. At this time we are not vaccinating patients at home or in residential accommodation. Our vaccination sessions will be at:

Birmingham Stake Centre (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints),

38-42 Lordswood Rd,

Harborne, Birmingham B17 9QS.

We will ensure that the Centre is Covid-secure for even the most vulnerable patients. If you are over 80 and getting to the Centre is not straightforward for you, please start planning how you can get there safely, for example with help from family.    

– Vaccines will delivered to us in a batch of 975 doses at a time. From the moment it is delivered, we have just over three days to give all 975 doses before the vaccine is spoiled. This means:

                – we will have very limited scope to rearrange appointments

                – we need you to be flexible in accepting the slot we offer you

                – there may be some unavoidable disruption to normal service as we send staff to the vaccination centre, especially if it is delivered mid-week.

This is a very important stage in the pandemic and our quest to resume normal life. We have come a very long way this year, and the NHS and the public have worked together incredibly well to cope so far. We know we can count on our patients in this latest challenge and want you to know that you can count on us to spare no effort in delivering this vaccination programme for the benefit of us all.

More information about the coronavirus vaccine programme is available at: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/coronavirus-vaccination/coronavirus-vaccine/