Will you just SHUT UP

Let me be blunt. It’s hard enough handling cancer problems, without having to put up with incompetence from bureaucrats.  Paid a fortune, yet they step away from problems without a care for the consequences.  I have been trying to get the anti-covid vaccination since December, and still haven’t had it!  Even though I am in the first tier.

My GP was snowed under, so I volunteered to find out if it would be OK to have the vaccine as I have numerous allergies and other medical problems.  NHS staff are excellent, but as the pandemic has shown, those in charge tend to be members of the headless chicken tribe.  Little did I know that three months after I volunteered to find out, I still didn’t know if it was OK to have the vaccine, I contacted just about every NHS dept. for help,  but they are world-class at passing the buck.

Unfair

On the way I found out that not everyone could receive the vaccine.  The NHS has a dog-in-the-manger attitude towards private patients.  When I couldn’t get an answer from anyone in the NHS to tell me if it was safe to have the vaccine, I contemplated going privately.  But, if I paid to have someone look through my medical history and see if it was safe for me to have the vaccine, I still wouldn’t be able to get this as the NHS has said private patients can’t receive this,

The ex-MP Ann Widdecombe has paid for private care all her working life, as on her MP’s salary she says she could afford it (leaving more in the kitty for those less fortunate).  But she has found out that private patients apparently are denied the vaccine.  The taxman still takes their contribution, but fair’s fair; it should be available to all tax-payers.

Who you know not what you know

A friend-of-a-friend heard I hadn’t been able to find out if it was OK for me to have the vaccine, and pulled strings to introduce me to one of the top, top people involved with the vaccine programme.  He gave me a 30-minute Zoom consultation and told me which vaccine I could have – but only under certain conditions – one of which was it had to be given at a hospital.  He was adamant about this, I didn’t need to ask why.

I am still waiting. I see Boris has had his at a hospital, even though a hub was much nearer.  So why can’t I?

The first time Her Majesty upset me

The Queen has been there for us all; much loved and respected.  But when she encouraged us to have the vaccination, and came out with the statement “they ought to think about other people rather than themselves”, I was horrified. Who, in the Government, asked HM to say this?

Her Majesty  is a wise, kind and gentle person, so this phrase must have been fed to her by Government advisors.  It upset me that I would be thought of as selfish and not thinking of others.

Don’t get me wrong. There are those who are too selfish to think of having the vaccine.  But for those of us with complex medical problems, the NHS must think about our needs, and not just brush us under the carpet and forget about us.

Hapless Hancock’s Digital madness

I did think it might be a good idea to ask the Minister appointed to head the Vaccine programme, Nadhim Zahawi, if his office could help, so Googled his contact and up came the tel. no. 0207 210 4850.  I phone and get a very angry person at the Dept. Health who says Zahawi has nothing to do with them – and no, he doesn’t know why their number is on the Government website – and obviously isn’t going to do anything about it as the number is still there,

If Hancock wants to get us all using IT, he had better do something about improving the way the NHS uses this,

P.S  I send an email to NHS England to ask where I can be “given the vaccine at a hospital centre, so can you please tell me where I can do this?”

Reply from NHS England come back:  “NHS England commissions or buys primary care services. etc. etc.”  (What do I need to know that for?) “The NHS England Customer Contact Centre does not have access to any personal patient information, therefore sadly we are unable to assist”.  Just what is personal about asking how to get vaccine at a hospital centre?