MORE than 1,000 people registered at a surgery near Salisbury have been affected by the national flu vaccination delay.

With one pharmacist describing the situation as an "information black hole", patients at Downton Surgery are just one group impacted by the delay in deliveries locally, with uncertainty around when their appointments will be rescheduled to.

This comes after Seqirus, the largest provider of flu vaccines to the UK, recently confirmed delivery delays of up to two weeks in England and Wales.

The company blamed “unforeseen challenges linked with road freight delays” for the disruption, with the impact now starting to hit GP surgeries across the country.

Local impact of vaccine delays

Ali Abass, pharmacist at Downton Surgery, said despite organising the flu clinic a year in advance, then booking around 1,100 patients to receive their vaccinations from September 13, the team has now been forced to postpone appointments.

"Of course most patients are understanding and know there's nothing we can do, but that is 1,000 people who need to be contacted and then rebooked, and staff rotas need to be changed," said Ali.

"It's just that extra bit of work getting people informed and getting staff moved around."

Talking about the flu clinic, which was due to begin next week, Ali said: "It really is all hands on deck to get people booked in, we give ourselves a really short window to get this done.

"Now we are waiting for the supplier company to inform us when we can start booking people back in, of course we can’t give any information to anyone just yet. It's an information black hole."

Ali added there has also been "significant delays with blood tubes, which are reducing the number of appointments and blood tests [Downton Surgery] can do".

'Everyone is being let down'

Talking about changes to appointments, Ali told the Journal: "It is such an annoyance, everyone knows how frustrating it is when an appointment gets cancelled.

"It’s a big ask to get people to rearrange, especially as this is such a rural patch.

"All we want is to do things right by our patients so this is just really hard, I don’t like letting people down and at this point everyone is being let down."

'This is not a cancellation'

Once confirmed delivery dates are given to the surgery the team will then begin to rebook patients, wanting to still conduct the clinic in a Covid-secure fashion.

"We want to still take social distancing into account and keep the environment as safe as possible, as the patients invited in for a flu jab are primarily part of a vulnerable group," Ali added.

"This sort of thing is meticulously organised, we work so hard and it’s tough especially now to not be able to give clear answers.

"We would like to say a huge thank you to our patients for understanding and making these sacrifices.

"Everyone will be getting a jab who booked one, those who need rebooking will be offered a new appointment, this is not a cancellation."

A delay - not a shortage

The Government's department of health and social care has quashed rumours about there being a vaccine shortage, and has assured the delay should not affect the overall vaccination programme.

A spokesperson said: “It is untrue to say there is a flu vaccine shortage.

“The delivery from one supplier is delayed by one or two weeks and this should have no impact on the flu vaccination programme overall.”

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