Stable Fold Surgery

A massive thank you to all the Westhoughton patients, staff and volunteers. As a network we are delighted to have vaccinated over 5000 of our patients so far. Please see below for the current information as of 15/2/21;

If you are >70 and have not had your vaccine the please text your initials and DOB to the vaccine hotline number 07587 554149 and we will contact you with an appointment. If you are unable to text then please contact the surgery directly.

If you are 65-69 then you will be receiving a letter this week from NHS England inviting you to be vaccinated at a site alternative to Peter House. You can also arrange your own vaccine at an alternative site via this link 

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/coronavirus-vaccination/book-coronavirus-vaccination/

If you are 65-69 and should you wish to be vaccinated by us rather than an alternative site, and you have not already been invited via text, then please text your initials and DOB to the hotline number 07587 554149

GP practices and alternative sites are both getting the same 2 vaccines so rest assured it doesn’t matter WHERE you get your vaccination. But be mindful that your second dose will need to be at the same site.

If you are 16-64 with underlying health problems or a main carer for an elderly or disabled person then we will contact you via text (or phone-call if we don’t have a mobile as your preferred contact) over the next few weeks for an appointment. If you are truly housebound and in this group then let us know when we contact you and we can arrange to see you at home. For an example of what this text looks like then please see our Westhoughton PCN Facebook page.

NHS England has given us guidance regarding as to which health conditions will entitle you to a vaccination in this group. …..link here

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/priority-groups-for-coronavirus-covid-19-vaccination-advice-from-the-jcvi-30-december-2020/joint-committee-on-vaccination-and-immunisation-advice-on-priority-groups-for-covid-19-vaccination-30-december-2020

Essentially these people are the same cohort that would be offered an annual flu vaccination other than some differences for asthmatic patients.

Information for asthmatics; In order to qualify for a covid vaccination in this group with ONLY a history of asthma then you need to have had an emergency admission to hospital with asthma or have had 3 lots of oral steroids (prednisolone) over a 3 month period. Taking a preventer and or reliever inhalers is not an indication for vaccination at this time (as it would be for flu vaccination).

We will be reviewing the clinical system and identifying patients based on these recommendations. As I’m sure you are aware this is a HUGE group of patients; as such we will be inviting you in batches. Please be aware that this will take a number of weeks and the speed at which we can do so is also based on our vaccine supply.

Where possible, please do not contact the surgery with vaccine queries as it stops poorly patients getting through on the phone.

Please follow our social media for the most up to date information regarding our vaccination programme.

Once again, a huge thank you to everyone involved in this, the biggest vaccination programme in NHS history.

The surgery are encouraging all patients were possible to sign up for our online services to enable you to order your repeat medications, you can email the request or post it through the letter box please see below for online services.

We are no longer accepting requests over the phone unless you are genuinely housebound