Latest update: 15.12.21
Getting your COVID-19 booster
In response to the national effort to protect people against the Omicron variant, the NHS is working to offer everyone aged 18 and over the chance to book a COVID-19 booster vaccine by the end of December.
You can now have your booster 3 months after your second dose and we will contact you when it is your turn. We will be prioritising people according to their age so please do not contact the practice for an appointment until you are invited.
Alternatively, you can book an appointment at a community or pharmacy vaccination centre using the NHS National Booking Service. You can book online at www.nhs.uk/covidvaccine or by calling 119. The service is currently very busy but more appointments are being added all the time so please keep checking back if you can’t get an appointment as quickly as you would like.
Last week at Cathedral House, the Viaduct, Greenwood and Tolson Primary Care Networks administered 7,200 vaccines which is a staggering effort. This brought our total doses administered since December to a significant milestone of over 22,000 doses delivered which is a truly remarkable number.
In reaching the Government’s target, we have invited everyone in the top four at risk categories and have started working into the next ‘at risk’ groups. We have also completed first doses at all 55 of the Care Homes we look after and the vast majority of housebound patients.
This has been a tremendous effort by all 26 GP Practices we cover and we would like to pay tribute to all members of staff who have gone above and beyond their duties in achieving this feat. From the retired GP’s and Nurses to the medical students, from the Practice Managers, admin assistants and patients representatives, all have played their part. It is a credit to them that they are taking part in delivering the biggest vaccination delivery programme this country has ever seen, whilst continuing to run services at their own surgeries.
On behalf of the Project Management Team, we would like to thank GHCCG, Kirklees Council and the Voluntary Sector Organisations who each have played their part in supporting the roll out.
We will continue to work tirelessly to ensure each of our eligible patients will be invited when they are due a first or second dose.
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Covid-19 Vaccination Invitation Letters from the National Booking System
If you are aged (75) or over, and have not yet had a vaccination, you may get a letter from the NHS national booking system inviting you to make an appointment at a large scale centre or community pharmacy.
These are being sent to people who live within 45 minutes of one of the centres that has been opened, which might be in a different area to where you would normally receive your healthcare.
Please note that you do not have to book an appointment at one of these centres if it is not convenient for you to get there. You can:
- choose to wait for an invitation from your GP practice
OR
- choose to wait until one of the West Yorkshire centres open and are added to the national booking system, which will happen over the next few weeks.
Please do not contact your local practice about an appointment until you receive an invitation from them. They will not be able to advise you on when you will get an appointment or which centres are available. All this information is available on the national booking system website.
The centres in West Yorkshire that are currently on the national booking system are:
- Boots pharmacy in Halifax
- Superdrug in the Merrion Centre, Leeds
- Pharmacy2U at the Village Hotel, Leeds
- Pharmacy2U at Morrisons, Dewsbury Road, Wakefield.
Four large scale vaccination centres will be opening in West Yorkshire between now and mid- February. This will be at:
- Navigation Walk, Wakefield
- The John Smith’s Stadium, Huddersfield
- Jacob’s Well, Bradford
- Elland Road Football Stadium, Leeds
Covid-19 Vaccination Programme
The NHS is now offering vaccinations to people in Kirklees who are most at risk from Covid-19.
Our practice is busy contacting eligible patients as supplies are made available. It is likely take several weeks before we contact everyone, so please be patient.
Vaccinations are currently being offered to people in care homes and those aged 80 and over in line with national priority groups identified by the Joint Committee of Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).
When it is your turn, you will receive an invitation via the phone or through a letter either from your GP or the national booking system. When you are invited for a vaccine, please act straight away.
We know people are eager to get protected but do not to contact the practice for information about the vaccine or to ask for an appointment. You will not be able to get a vaccination until you receive an invitation.
We are currently receiving a large number of enquiries about the COVID-19 vaccination. Before you contact the practice, please check the NHS website or look at these frequently asked questions where you may find the answer to your question.
COVID-19 infection rates remain high and local health services are incredibly busy. The best thing we can all do to protect ourselves our families and our community is to remember - Hands, Face, Space.
Vaccination Fraud
Vaccinations are free of charge and only available through the NHS. Anyone who offers a vaccination privately or for a fee is likely to be committing a crime and should be reported to the police online or by calling 112.
The NHS will never ask you to press a button on your keypad or send a text asking you to confirm you want the vaccine.
The Pfizer BioNTech vaccine has now been approved for use and the NHS will be starting to offer this to priority groups as soon as supplies arrive.
When will a vaccine be available?
The first deliveries of the vaccine should be during w/c 7 December and the NHS is ready to start offering them as soon as they arrive to those who need them most.
Who will get a vaccine?
The vaccine will be offered to those at greatest risk from Covid19 first, starting with people living in care homes, people over 80 years old and frontline health and social care workers. This is based on the guidance from the Joint Committee for Vaccinations and Immunisations which is available here. As more supplies of the vaccine or alternative vaccines become available it will be rolled out in phases to people aged between 80 and 50 and those who are clinically extremely vulnerable. People will be invited for a vaccine when it is their turn so they do not need to contact their practice or the NHS.
Where can I get a vaccine?
To start with, vaccines will only be available at hospital ‘hubs’ where the Pfizer vaccine can be stored safely. However, arrangements are also being put in place to offer vaccines from a number of different locations as more supplies and different vaccines become available. These include local vaccine services provided by GPs and pharmacists and new dedicated vaccination centres to make sure that everyone who needs a vaccine is able to get one.
Further information
We will share further information with you as it becomes available. In the meantime, there are three things people can do to help:
- Please don’t contact the NHS to seek a vaccine - we will contact you when it’s the right time to you to have yours
- Please act on your invite when it comes, and make sure you attend your appointments when you arrange them;
- Please continue to abide by all the social distancing and hand hygiene guidance, which will still save lives.
Covid-19 and your information
Supplementary privacy note on Covid-19 for Patients
This notice describes how we may use your information to protect you and others during the Covid-19 outbreak. It supplements our main Privacy Notice which is available on the notice board
The health and social care system is facing significant pressures due to the Covid-19 outbreak. Health and care information is essential to deliver care to individuals, to support health and social care services and to protect public health. Information will also be vital in researching, monitoring, tracking and managing the outbreak. In the current emergency it has become even more important to share health and care information across relevant organisations.
Existing law which allows confidential patient information to be used and shared appropriately and lawfully in a public health emergency is being used during this outbreak.
Using this law the Secretary of State has required NHS Digital; NHS England and Improvement; Arm’s Length Bodies (such as Public Health England); local authorities; health organisations and GPs to share confidential patient information to respond to the Covid-19 outbreak. Any information used or shared during the Covid-19 outbreak will be limited to the period of the outbreak unless there is another legal basis to use the data.
Further information is available on gov.uk and some FAQs on this law are available.During this period of emergency, opt-outs will not generally apply to the data used to support the Covid-19 outbreak, due to the public interest in sharing information.
This includes National Data Opt-outs. However in relation to the Summary Care Record, existing choices will be respected. Where data is used and shared under these laws your right to have personal data erased will also not apply. It may also take us longer to respond to Subject Access Requests, Freedom of Information requests and new opt-out requests whilst we focus our efforts on responding to the outbreak.In order to look after your health and care needs we may share your confidential patient information including health and care records with clinical and non-clinical staff in other health and care providers, for example neighbouring GP practices, hospitals and NHS 111.
We may also use the details we have to send public health messages to you, either by phone, text or email.
During this period of emergency we may offer you a consultation via telephone or videoconferencing.By accepting the invitation and entering the consultation you are consenting to this. Your personal/confidential patient information will be safeguarded in the same way it would with any other consultation.
We will also be required to share personal/confidential patient information with health and care organisations and other bodies engaged in disease surveillance for the purposes of protecting public health, providing healthcare services to the public and monitoring and managing the outbreak. Further information about how health and care data is being used and shared by other NHS and social care organisations in a variety of ways to support the Covid-19 response.
NHS England and Improvement and NHSX have developed a single, secure store to gather data from across the health and care system to inform the Covid-19 response. This includes data already collected by NHS England, NHS Improvement, Public Health England and NHS Digital. New data will include 999 call data, data about hospital occupancy and A&E capacity data as well as data provided by patients themselves. All the data held in the platform is subject to strict controls that meet the requirements of data protection legislation.In such circumstances where you tell us you’re experiencing Covid-19 symptoms we may need to collect specific health data about you. Where we need to do so, we will not collect more information than we require and we will ensure that any information collected is treated with the appropriate safeguards.
We may amend this privacy notice at any time so please review it frequently. The date at the top of this page will be amended each time this notice is updated.