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Home Whitstable News Article
Patients will be given flu jabs through car windows as part of measures to vaccinate 15,000 more people ahead of a feared second wave of Covid-19.
In an effort to reduce the pressure on the NHS this winter, the government has widened the pool of people eligible for the free injections.
It has left GP surgeries across the district facing a huge surge in demand.
Whitstable Medical Practice is preparing to administer 18,000 flu jabs - almost double the 10,000 planned for before the age of eligibility was lowered to 50.
As a result, a drive-thru centre for Covid-19 patients at Estuary View Medical Centre has been converted to a flu clinic.
Executive partner John Ribchester told KentOnline: “The government changes have put us from doing about 10,000 jabs to more than 18,000. That’s a huge logistical problem.
“We’ve already had a trial run using members of staff in their cars to see how quickly we can take people through there, and it looks like we’ll be able to do one car every two minutes.”
The four-lane drive-thru centre, in the practice’s car park, had formed part of the town’s Covid-19 hot site, which opened in April to assess as many as 100 potential virus sufferers each day.
But its funding was pulled by the Clinical Commissioning Group at the end of last month as it received an average of just five patients every 24 hours.
Flu vaccinations were already available to all primary school children and those aged two and three.
The scheme has been extended to Year 7 pupils as health bosses look to protect the youngsters’ elderly and vulnerable family members.
“Nationwide, if we’re to immunise roughly half the population, I’m afraid it’ll have to be a pretty rapid process, whether it’s in buildings or in a drive-thru – and we’ve decided to do both,” Mr Ribchester added.
"The government changes have put us from doing about 10,000 jabs to more than 18,000. That’s a huge logistical problem..."
“As soon as we’ve got the vaccines from the suppliers, we’re going to implement it as soon as possible.”
Meanwhile, at Park Surgery in Herne Bay, GPs are expecting to vaccinate 13,500 people – 3,000 more than they had originally anticipated.
It plans to inoculate all of its over-65 and at-risk patients first, between September and November, in rooms that have been home to the town’s hot-site at the Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital.
Executive partner Jeremy Carter said: “Because we have got that venue and due to the way we can get patients to flow through there very nicely, we are planning to run our flu clinic from there.
“We looked at a number of options, including a drive-thru, but we’ve done the modelling and we think we can get the patients through in that site safely.”
The over-65s, pregnant women, those with underlying health conditions and health and social care staff will be the first to be offered the inoculation.
Anyone sharing a home with a person on the coronavirus shielding list will also be prioritised. A staggered call-up of the rest of those on the NHS flu programme will then follow.
And Heron Medical Practice in Herne Bay is readying itself to vaccinate almost 11,000 people - 4,000 more than last year.
It will run appointment-only clinics at its St Anne’s, Beltinge and Hersden surgeries.
Business manager Helen Sutton said: “Each eligible patient will be sent a letter with a barcode on the bottom.
“This barcode will then be scanned onto the patient’s notes after the clinic has finished, saving the clinicians time during the day.
“The aim is to have the patients in and out of the surgery within a couple of minutes to allow for social distancing, but still get through the thousands of vaccinations we will need to give.”
Ms Sutton says the first delivery of jabs is pencilled in for September 14. She hopes to have most of them administered by the middle of November.
