Dr Wordley is hanging up his stethoscope at the end of March. Please read his message to you all and also leave him your good wishes or type the shortcut ivy.gs/wishes
We are receiving lots of queries from patients about the vaccine. Please wait to be contacted. When you become eligible and we have vaccine available you will receive an invitation to book an appointment either from your GP practice (by phone call, letter or text), or by letter from the NHS directly.
Any letter you receive will include all the information you will need to book appointments, including your NHS number.
Please do not contact us to get an appointment until you receive an invite or letter.
Please check the frequently asked questions section if you have a query.
Please be aware that practices do not control the vaccine supply chain, do not determine the priority groupings and did not determine the change in 2nd dose provision. We have no influence whatsoever on these centrally controlled issues.
Please do not contact us about any of the above issues as we do not have any responsibility for them.
Please check the frequently asked questions section for answers to your query before you call us, as your call could block urgent calls coming in.
Patients are booked in order of priority based on age or clinical vulnerability - please see below for information.
We are now working through the over 75s group, along with any outstanding patients from previous groups, and when all of this group have had the opportunity to have a vaccination we will then move onto the next group.
There are a defined number of slots in each clinic allocated to each practice in the neighbourhood and it will therefore take several clinics to get through each eligible cohort. Please be patient whilst you wait for your turn.
Booking will only take place when a scheduled delivery of covid vaccination has taken place and when a clinic has been set up to accept patients. We cannot book you on demand or upon your request. Please do not contact us to book a covid vaccination - we will contact you.
Please check the frequently asked questions section if you have a query.
Priority patients are based on the Government’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) who identify patients based on the prevention of serious illness from COVID-19. Prioritisation is primarily based on age, as the risk of serious illness and death from COVID-19 increases with age.
This priority list is as follows (along with approximate progress of vaccinating each of our groups†):
† Notes on the progress indicators above: these are provided by the surgery for information and to indicate approximate progress only; we update these progress indicators whenever a major clinic has been run (only weekends currently) and where vaccination entries have been coded into records, therefore there will sometimes be delays and accordingly no daily updates; achievement will never be 100% in any cohort given that, for example, some patients will be unsuitable for a specific vaccine or may have declined (we do not exclude these patients from the above numbers as their circumstances or decision might change); we invite patients based on roll-out for current cohort and this will always include any patients left over from previous cohorts; please wait to be contacted; data is correct as at January 19, 2021 after 3 weekend clinics.
Information on the vaccine is available on the following sites, or check the FAQs or more info below:
You will be suitable for the vaccination if you meet ALL of the following criteria:
Please be prepared on the day of vaccination clinic:
Please note that we provide these FAQs in all good faith to answer patients' queries regarding covid vaccination, however, as you will all know, the situation with the vaccination programme is subject to rapid change and we can therefore accept no responsibility for issues arising out of use of these FAQs. If you need clarification of any points, please review official sources below
Clinics are scheduled according to vaccine delivery and until delivery is confirmed, we cannot book patients into clinics. Therefore we are unable to book you on demand or when you request it. We will contact you when it is your turn to have the jab.
We have not forgotten you. Each practice in the neighbourhood has a defined number of slots in each clinic available to them to book their patients into. There are many more patients than slots available in each clinic, therefore it will take several clinics to get through each eligible cohort.
Remember the covid vaccination programme is not like the flu vaccination programme, it is on a much larger scale, and will run for 8-9 months minimum, not just over a few weeks like the flu programme, so everyone eligible will eventually get their turn.
The single greatest risk factor for Covid-19 is increasing age, and this risk rises exponentially (more and more rapidly) with age. The optimal strategy for minimising future deaths is to offer vaccination to older age groups first.
Please check the priority list above for the eligible cohorts.
Please see above. We cannot shortcut the national process for the eligible cohorts and you cannot buy the jab privately.
Although we definitely want to see as many people vaccinated as possible, and we all know the whole country wants to get back to normal as soon as possible, the covid vaccination programme is a marathon, not a sprint. Even if you have the jab now, it does not mean that you or your family can abandon all the ongoing measures to keep yourselves safe. You must still socially distance, adhere to strict hygiene and follow all rules on local and national restrictions.
Please be aware that everyone is working extremely hard behind the scenes to get this programme up and running as quickly, effectively and efficiently as possible, so even if you do not hear straight away, you can be assured that strenous efforts are underway and you will get your turn.
The quickest way to get the jab is to wait your turn and accept and attend any appointment for the jab that you will be offered.
Please be assured that there are processes to ensure that all residents (and health care staff) in care homes and those patients who are housebound will be vaccinated in a separate process. You will not be left out. Please wait to be contacted.
Please note, if you are offered the vaccine, and are able to get to a clinic (for example, with help from a relative or friend), we do encourage you to attend the clinic if possible. If you cannot attend a clinic, you may have to wait for the above process to get round to you.
If you work for an NHS trust, or hospital, then your human resources or occupational health department will arrange for you to get the covid jab.
If you work in a care home, you should be able to get your covid jab when the residents in your workplace get theirs.
For all other health and social care workers, please wait to be contacted by your employing organisation in due course.
You may have been asked by your employer to get in touch with us to either inform us of your employment status, or to book your covid jab. There is no need to contact us at this time, as GPs are currently not involved in call and recall of this group.
It is your choice if you wish to travel away from the area to one of the new national vaccination centres, or you can wait until you get an invite to the local clinic in Ripley.
If you have received such a letter and wish to book at a mass vaccination centre, please visit NHS.UK . PLEASE NOTE: You can only use this service if you have received a letter inviting you to book your vaccination appointments.
If you would rather have your jab at the local clinic, simply ignore the letter and wait to be invited locally. There is no need to contact us to let us know.
If you do choose to go elsewhere for your jab, there is no need to let us know, as we automatically get records of vaccinatons carried out elsewhere.
Even though the eligibility of cohorts appears to have been brought forward, we are not yet at the point where all those in the previous cohorts have been vaccinated. We will have to complete those cohorts first, before moving onto other cohorts. We therefore ask that you to please be patient and wait your turn. You will be invited when it is your turn and when we have appointments available for you.
You may have heard widely in the media that appointments for those due their second covid jab would be cancelled and the slots rebooked with new patients for their first covid jab.
Technically, though the appointments are being cancelled, those due their second jab will still get it, but at a later date, up to 12 weeks from the first jab. So the second jab is just being postponed for now.
This is a result of a direct request from the four Chief Medical Officers (CMOs) for the United Kingdom based on new evidence from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). The evidence suggests that the first dose of covid vaccine provides protection for most people up to 3 months.
This significant change might be a little confusing and perhaps frustrating for some, however the aim of it is to jab more people in the priority groups with one jab and provide them all with some protective immunity, rather than have fewer people with two jabs ending up with only slightly more immunity. From a public health perspective, this should prevent more infections and consequently save more lives, during a difficult time when coronavirus is spreading rapidly in the community and vaccine availability is not optimal.
Those interested might wish to read the official letter from the CMOs to the profession and the technical evidence from the JCVI surrounding this whole issue.
No you can't. Also, as far as we know, once you have started a course with one brand of vaccine, you must complete the course with the same brand and not switch over to a different brand.
The answer to this is a most definite 'no'. You will still need to follow all local and national restrictions in force.
Do not assume just because you have been vaccinated that all the problems around you will suddenly go away. There is still a high level of coronavirus infection in the community with most people not yet vaccinated.
Remember as well, the vaccine can take up to a few weeks to start working and offering immunity, so protection from vaccines is never immediate in any case, and also it does not necessarily prevent you from catching coronavirus, but should help to stop it becoming a more severe disease should you catch it. Also it is not yet known whether the vaccine stops you from transmitting the virus if you are do get infected.
Therefore please still follow the rules, even if you (or your family and friends) have had the covid jab.
If you've recently tested positive for coronavirus – even if you have no symptoms – you should wait until 4 weeks after the date you were tested before getting the vaccine.
We strongly encourage all eligible patients to have the covid jab, in line with national guidance to protect not only yourselves but also those around you. However if you are certain that you do not want the jab, please ring us and let us know and we will exclude you from any invites for the jab.
We would kindly ask that you review the FAQs document from Joined Up Care Derbyshire and check the very useful leaflets below before you give us a call - we remain as busy as ever dealing with ongoing clinical work during this pandemic and calling us about this will block urgent calls coming in.
Please see leaflets below.
Please try not to worry. We have your details. Please wait to be contacted. CRUCIALLY IMPORTANT: please keep yourselves safe in the meantime.
The following information is available to download:
See more leaflets and posters and the NHS.UK covid vaccination site
© Dr Michael Wong 2021