Flu Information Sheet
If you are eligible for a flu vaccination, or think that you may be eligible, please take one of these sheets which outlines our flu campaign plans for this year .
Are you eligible?
All patients 65 & over
Any patient under 65 who suffers from any chronic condition including (but not exclusively) respiratory, heart, immunosuppression and kidney problems
All pregnant women
Any carers
Children aged 2-4 years old (as at 31 August 2016) -their vaccination is given as a nasal spray
The majority of patients who are admitted to hospital with flu-or who die from the virus-are in the under 65 age bracket (including pregnant women)and suffer from a long term or chronic condition. Do NOT under estimate flu- it can be an extremely debilitating and dangerous illness.
When will the clinics be held?
We have over 2000 patients to vaccinate and in order to complete these as quickly as possible to mitigate the chances of catching flu early in the season, we are aiming to complete our campaign by late October. This will mean a very concentrated campaign and we need the co-operation and understanding of all our patients please.
There will be four main clinics held when a number of nurses and Doctors will be giving the vaccinations. These will be as follows and run between 2.00 pm and 6.00 pm
Tuesday 20th September
Thursday 29th September
Tuesday 4th October
Thursday 13th October
In addition there will be two Monday evening sessions primarily for those who work or for those patients who rely on friends/relatives (who work) to bring them to the surgery. These will run from 5.30 pm-7.30 pm on the following dates;
10th October
24th October
For the children- to try to make things easier for both children and parents - we are holding a clinic on Saturday 15th October between 9.00 a.m. and 1.00 p.m.as in previous years. We will be writing to parents of all eligible children offering a time on that morning-if for any reason you are unable to make it please let us know as soon as possible.
In addition to the above clinics there will be another weekly Friday afternoon session throughout October (7th, 14th & 21st) for those who cannot make the dates above but if you are seeing a GP or nurse for any other reason over the next few weeks and are eligible for a vaccination please ask for it during your appointment!
Finally as we are opening for the children’s flu clinic on Saturday 15th October there will be availability for adults to also have their vaccination on that morning.
All sessions will be by appointment only -we do hope that we have supplied plenty of different options for those who work or need a carer or relative to bring them to the surgery.
Our requests to you
As we have so many patients to vaccinate, the flu clinics are for this purpose only and therefore in order to reduce congestion as far as possible, we regret that no other issues can be discussed when you attend for your vaccination
Clearly the fact that we have very limited car parking remains a big problem so we respectfully ask that if you are able to walk or at least share transport that you do so please and that as soon as you have had your vaccination (and had a few minutes required rest) that you leave again. We are planning to have potentially 100 patients coming per hour at peak times
When you come in and check in, you will be shown to an area to wait-please at that point remove your coats and expose your left arm (unless there is a specific reason why you cannot have an injection in that arm) in readiness for being called in for your vaccination.
Home visits
Home visits are solely for those patients who are totally housebound and unable to get a lift in via a relative/friend/taxi. They are not by appointment – clearly if a patient is housebound then they should be at home at any time. Our District Nurses may therefore call in ‘on spec’ if they are passing and know that you have requested a home visit
We thank you very much in anticipation for your co-operation in helping us to deal with this exceptionally busy time and workload. If you have any questions or suggestions please do not hesitate to speak to any of the GP’s or Nick Derbyshire, Practice Manager