COVID-19: Vaccine and testing procedures Megathread Part 3 - Read OP

Dressoutlet wrote: »

I actually spoke to my GP the other day about this. She said she thinks it will be an online portal registration where the patient selects their underlying issue(s) and we will be categorised by priority. Where a 21 year old with Cystic Fibrosis would be of higher priority than a 50 year old with a high BMI. But she was unsure as to how the priority would actually be set.

I hope it's done that way, maybe a hefty fine if someone selects underlying conditions they don't have and some random checks to make sure.
It could also be a case when they get to us, vaccines will be in a plenty full supply, the difference between the 2 examples will be only a week and not months.

josip

NeuralNetwork wrote: »

They were like that long before the pandemic. Just an extremely busy practice.

I can't understand though in this day and age, with widely available VoIP services, why they can't operate a call queuing system instead of dumping people to voicemail. I've come across that at two GPs in two different cities and it's pretty obvious that there's going to be a huge amount of extra phone demand during this pandemic, which is now rolling on for almost a year.

It's literally just an eir landline voicemail box that's permanently answering because the line is always busy.

You could always write them a letter.
I've found that Health Services and Govt Departments have excellent turnaround times on the oldest form of distance communication.
GPs are probably similar.

I think most GPs still use faxs (shudder) because they need them to communicate with other parts of the general health system (shudder, shudder). But for this you'll either need your own fax or use an internet service.

Dressoutlet wrote: »

I actually spoke to my GP the other day about this. She said she thinks it will be an online portal registration where the patient selects their underlying issue(s) and we will be categorised by priority. Where a 21 year old with Cystic Fibrosis would be of higher priority than a 50 year old with a high BMI. But she was unsure as to how the priority would actually be set.

Hopefully not like the story about the 6.5cm man in UK !

NeuralNetwork wrote: »

I'll try her GP again on Monday. They are extremely difficult to reach most of the time. You could be trying the phone for maybe an hour or more. It just keeps going to voicemail and they never return the calls - you just get a message saying "you've reached .... clinic. Our lines are busy. Please try later or leave a message."

Maybe leave a message with her name , dob and phone number and yours as well, asking them to let her/ you know when it is likely to be ....that's what I would be doing.
They will listen to the messages and get back when they know but she won't be forgotten about .

Water John

NeuralNetwork wrote: »

They were like that long before the pandemic. Just an extremely busy practice.

Contact with a large GP practice and a Veterinary Practice, both always answer promptly.

Dressoutlet

Wolf359f wrote: »

Just you mentioning 4 underlying conditions, I'm curious as to how group 7 would be rolled out, will it be up to GP's to vaccinate based on their judgement on whose more at risk (regardless of age)
I'm sure there's plenty of younger people in group 7 with far more serious underlying conditions than an older person with a single one.

I actually spoke to my GP the other day about this. She said she thinks it will be an online portal registration where the patient selects their underlying issue(s) and we will be categorised by priority. Where a 21 year old with Cystic Fibrosis would be of higher priority than a 50 year old with a high BMI. But she was unsure as to how the priority would actually be set.

Water John wrote: »

That just isn't good enough. If they need another staff member they take one on.
More GPs will be getting vaccines next week but not sure if all.

They were like that long before the pandemic. Just an extremely busy practice.

I can't understand though in this day and age, with widely available VoIP services, why they can't operate a call queuing system instead of dumping people to voicemail. I've come across that at two GPs in two different cities and it's pretty obvious that there's going to be a huge amount of extra phone demand during this pandemic, which is now rolling on for almost a year.

It's literally just an eir landline voicemail box that's permanently answering because the line is always busy.

Water John

NeuralNetwork wrote: »

I'll try her GP again on Monday. They are extremely difficult to reach most of the time. You could be trying the phone for maybe an hour or more. It just keeps going to voicemail and they never return the calls - you just get a message saying "you've reached .... clinic. Our lines are busy. Please try later or leave a message."

That just isn't good enough. If they need another staff member they take one on.
More GPs will be getting vaccines next week but not sure if all.

Wolf359f wrote: »

Maybe you can try email? I'd say they are finding it hard to answer calls all the time.
It's certainly a serious downside to GP's vaccinating, they also have other patients ringing for other issues.

I'll see if I can find one for them. I might resort to faxing them as I do have a fax number for them and could probably do email-to-fax.

NeuralNetwork wrote: »

I'll try her GP again on Monday. They are extremely difficult to reach most of the time. You could be trying the phone for maybe an hour or more. It just keeps going to voicemail and they never return the calls - you just get a message saying "you've reached .... clinic. Our lines are busy. Please try later or leave a message."

Maybe you can try email? I'd say they are finding it hard to answer calls all the time.
It's certainly a serious downside to GP's vaccinating, they also have other patients ringing for other issues.

Dressoutlet wrote: »

I'm a young mother to young children. I'm in group 7 and I have 4 underlying conditions from the group. I personally think I should be vaxxed before group 5 (that have no underlying conditions) with but that's me being selfish. If an office worker for the HSE or someone the HSE is using to keep them running gets vaxxed before me I totally understand why. If the system breaks down then me with my young children just may end up dead.

Just you mentioning 4 underlying conditions, I'm curious as to how group 7 would be rolled out, will it be up to GP's to vaccinate based on their judgement on whose more at risk (regardless of age)
I'm sure there's plenty of younger people in group 7 with far more serious underlying conditions than an older person with a single one.

I'll try her GP again on Monday. They are extremely difficult to reach most of the time. You could be trying the phone for maybe an hour or more. It just keeps going to voicemail and they never return the calls - you just get a message saying "you've reached .... clinic. Our lines are busy. Please try later or leave a message."

NeuralNetwork wrote: »

I don't want to give away her details online here with too much details but she's over 85.

Fair enough.
I would have thought she'd have been contacted by now by her GP if shes 85+
I know people here were reporting about elderly relatives been giving dates weeks from now, but quickly corrected to have been sooner.
Maybe she should get in touch with her GP? Would have been nice if the Government ran an information campaign, like if your GP doesn't contact you by this date and you're over 85+, do this or phone this number etc..
I can understand alot of anxious people are waiting for a phone call, worrying they may have been forgotten about.

Dressoutlet

iamwhoiam wrote: »

I have a two young family members in group 7 . They will wait months while one of their friends who works in an office is vaccinated . It’s difficult for them and me to then try to rationalise it

I'm a young mother to young children. I'm in group 7 and I have 4 underlying conditions from the group. I personally think I should be vaxxed before group 5 (that have no underlying conditions) with but that's me being selfish. If an office worker for the HSE or someone the HSE is using to keep them running gets vaxxed before me I totally understand why. If the system breaks down then me with my young children just may end up dead.

Turtwig wrote: »

That's down to her GP. By virtue of her age alone she's in the vulnerable group. If she's over 85 someone should be contacting her this week.

Hopefully they do or it will be fairly risky for her.

The Royal Scam

wheresthebeef wrote: »

There actually are a lot of contractors employed within the HSE who have contact with patients and have to work in close proximity - think contracted Security/Porters, Cleaners, Catering and so on. Those people need to be vaccinated.

You could also have less obvious ones like technical professions - plumbers, engineers, IT who keep the show on the road.

I am just in the door after a 15hr day travelling to a couple of centres in Galway and Sligo commissioning and validating the fridges for storage in the vaccination centres. Very impressed with the setup in each of them and centres are setup for a high capacity.
I am feeling very hopeful that things will ramp up sooner than we think.

Turtwig

NeuralNetwork wrote: »

Nope, in one case an 80+ year old with a form of blood cancer, who is not vaccinated yet and received no priority whatsoever and has yet to receive any contact form her GP.

That's down to her GP. By virtue of her age alone she's in the vulnerable group. If she's over 85 someone should be contacting her this week.

Wolf359f wrote: »

GP's are starting with 85+ first.
Then 80+
This week was a trial run in a limited number of GP surgery's involved.

I don't want to give away her details online here with too much details but she's over 85.

josip

funnydoggy wrote: »

Mother forwarding me the Brazilian import stuff. Anything I can show her so I can stop her panicking?

Reruns of Father Ted are great, they'd take your mind off anything.

NeuralNetwork wrote: »

Nope, in one case an 80+ year old with a form of blood cancer, who is not vaccinated yet and received no priority whatsoever and has yet to receive any contact form her GP.

She's an active, very much on-the-ball type who is aware of the risks and has been rather concerned about the lack of priority and is not impressed at all with the way this is being rolled out.

GP's are starting with 85+ first.
Then 80+
This week was a trial run in a limited number of GP surgery's involved.

Goldengirl wrote: »

Would be in one of the groups being vaccinated early surely anyhow with underlying conditions ?

Nope, in one case an 80+ year old with a form of blood cancer, who is not vaccinated yet and received no priority whatsoever and has yet to receive any contact from her GP.

She's an active, very much on-the-ball type who is aware of the risks and has been rather concerned about the lack of priority and is not impressed at all with the way this is being rolled out.

The way things are going, it's likely she'll end up going into hospital for a procedure, unvaccinated.

NeuralNetwork wrote: »

It would still make sense that if you're going to be physically attending hospital for a procedure, or sitting around for infusions or a regular patient who's in and out a lot, you should be getting priority vaccination to prevent risks.

If your GP knows you're going to be attending they should be able to prioritise that.

There are people in and out all the time for blood tests, infusions, dialysis, various issues like that.

Would be in one of the groups being vaccinated early surely anyhow with underlying conditions ?

iamwhoiam wrote: »

I agree with him . Just bothered me today to hear of this strapping 32 year old who is miles away from any patients and will never see one , being vaccinated !!
He works purely in admin processing forms but it is what it is and no point getting upset

The KPMG accountants pvssed me off when I heard about it I have to say .

It would still make sense that if you're going to be physically attending hospital for a procedure, or sitting around for infusions or a regular patient who's in and out a lot, you should be getting priority vaccination to prevent risks.

If your GP knows you're going to be attending they should be able to prioritise that.

There are people in and out all the time for blood tests, infusions, dialysis, various issues like that.

Deleted User wrote: »

It’s like the body said, oh no, not you again and prepared for the worst after the vaccine. Heard similar from a nurse I know who was off sick last March for other reasons and breezed through both doses with little other than a sore arm. While a handful of colleagues who worked through the spring had varying degrees of more unpleasant symptoms.

Raind, more than the body saying that , lol

Maybe we could save a few 2nd doses next time round .

Turtwig

NeuralNetwork wrote: »

It'd be a good idea to pre-vaccinate anyone who is going for outpatients or similar appointments with hospitals.

E.g. if you're booked in for an outpatient's appointment for any kind of procedure, your GP should be able to offer you a jab in advance of your appointment, preferably a month ahead.

There's a fair few higher risk procedures e.g. anything invasive ENT or respiratory related, obviously but its of other areas too.

It'd help keep it out of hospitals entirely.

Given the size of the waiting lists most of the folk will get the vaccine much much sooner than their appointment.

Wolf359f wrote: »

It's going to be a long time waiting for outpatient appointments!
We'll probably have the most at risk vaccinated by then!

Actually not the case, for example I know two people both going in for minor procedures e.g. a biopsy in one case, and they were not waiting very long appointments setup in early Feb for late March.

Depending on what it is, some of it can move quite quickly.

NeuralNetwork wrote: »

It'd be a good idea to pre-vaccinate anyone who is going for outpatients or similar appointments with hospitals.

E.g. if you're booked in for an outpatient's appointment for any kind of procedure, your GP should be able to offer you a jab in advance of your appointment, preferably a month ahead.

It'd help keep it out of hospitals entirely.

It's going to be a long time waiting for outpatient appointments!
We'll probably have the most at risk vaccinated by then!

It'd be a good idea to pre-vaccinate anyone who is going for outpatients or similar appointments with hospitals.

E.g. if you're booked in for an outpatient's appointment for any kind of procedure, your GP should be able to offer you a jab in advance of your appointment, preferably a month ahead.

There's a fair few higher risk procedures e.g. anything invasive ENT or respiratory related, obviously but its of other areas too.

It'd help keep it out of hospitals entirely.