When a system error at my GP's surgery ended up with me being given that fifth Covid-19 vaccination, just one week after I'd had my fourth, we suspected that it would screw up the various admin/record systems that are associated with the vaccination programme.
True to form, getting a Spring Booster jab has been an ordeal akin to jumping through fiery hoops.
When the Spring Booster programme started, I tried to book online. That failed, so I was advised to call 119 to discuss it with a real person. That person took all of the details and decided that I was due another jab, but one of the Haematology team would have to request it. I emailed the Hambleton Clinic Haemo docs to ask them to make that request.
Three weeks later and nothing had happened, so I asked them again during the telephone consultation that had been booked for 20th April (but which didn't actually happen until 21st April, as they'd missed me off the call-list). The haemo doc agreed that I was due another jab, and said that she'd make the required request ASAP.
That Haemo doc was true to her word... the next morning I was woken by a woman calling from the UHL Booking Office. Yes, the UHL Booking Office which fcuks up the parts that other booking offices can't reach. I explained that I'd had five jabs, she said that I'd meant four. I restated "five", she said that one of them would have been a flu jab. I re-restated "five" and then she imploded, told me that I couldn't possibly have had five jabs already, and said that she'd need to refer back to the requesting Haemo doc.
Monday morning... I contacted the UHL Booking Office again. They still couldn't book me in, but gave me the contact email address for VacHub. Dedicated Vaccination Hub staff. People who actually know what they're talking about. Within the hour I'd sent VacHub the whole story via email, and we spent a few hours exchanging info. The upshot was that after consulting a fair list of people, they couldn't jab me because their "Green Book" guidelines didn't allow it. They'd contact the requesting Haemo doc to inform her.
Well, that Green Book was like a red rag to a bull. Within the hour I'd read it, understood it, and used bits of it in email messages sent back to VacHub. The key bit was that antibody counts wane over time, that waning is not related to how close together the most-recent vaccinations had been given. I argued that they were so close together that they could be considered as one dose. Therefore, the key indicator for being boosted was how long ago that latest combi-dose had been given, and that was three months. The truth about the Green Book guidelines was that rather than not allowing me to have a sixth jab, it had no provision for anyone in my situation - and no go-to reference or process for dealing with anyone not fitting their "normal" profile.
Tuesday dawned, and I was called by the requesting Haemo consultant. She claimed that she'd assumed that I'd had only four jabs, and had based her request on that. When she'd actually checked my record and found that I'd had five jabs, she'd changed her mind. She explained it well, I saw her point of view, and I agreed that I'd given it my best shot and had lost this battle.
But today it all became clear. My use of Green Book reasoning had made some of the VacHub staff think again. They called me to explain. The VacHub staff don't access NHS records directly, they use NIVS (The National Immunisation & Vaccination System), and that system had no record of the GP system-error jab which I had on 28th January. Compare that to my TPP SystmOnline record (GP-based) which records all five jabs. We can't compare it with my proper full NHS record, as I have no access to that. Anyway, the data-flow's not ideal and a lot of it is one-way only - see here.
The upshot was that too many people had too many differing opinions based on which system they had access to. That's the NHS for you!
They decided that another jab would be safe, and less of a risk than a Covid-19 infection/hospitalisation, so they offered me a choice of jab appointments and venues.
Five hours later and I'd been jabbed again. That's SIX. And because the jabbing doctor applied a liberal dose of common-sense - he actually took the time to listen, think, record and discuss - we managed to get my jab-record back on track for any future round of boosters. In theory, there shouldn't be any more fiery hoops. Hats off to the VacHub staff, I say.
Read it and weep, Sarah. You said it couldn't be done...
