Long Queues Develop for Vaccine at Chiswick Health Centre

Reports of waiting times of over an hour on first two days

Covid-19 vaccine queue at Chiswick Health Centre. Picture: @ChiswickHighRd

Elderly Chiswick residents have needed to wait in queues for over an hour on the first two days that the Covid-19 vaccine has been available at the Health Centre.

The line of people has, on a number of occasions, reached all the way down to the entrance ramp and along Dolman Road.

A number of reasons have been given for the length of the queues. It is understood that on Wednesday (6 January) the vaccine was late arriving. Although attempts were made by GP surgeries to inform people to turn up later, some people were unaware of the delay.

Long queues also developed on Thursday and staff told people in the queue that there was an issue with a number of people qualified to administer the vaccine being unavailable through illness.

However, the queues seem to be intermittent and many people have reported receiving the vaccine after a minimal wait.

As the people getting the vaccine were mainly in their eighties, concern has been expressed that, given the exceptionally cold weather, their health could be compromised by having to wait outside for such a long time.

Long queues for vaccination outside the Chiswick Health Centre. Wrap up warm and maybe bring a chair? pic.twitter.com/JERcFU9Plk

— Chiswick High Road (@ChiswickHighRd) January 7, 2021

One person who was accompanying an elderly relative on the first day of vaccine availability said, “I was with my mother-in-law who is well into her eighties. She was very pleased to be getting the vaccine but after about half an hour’s queueing with no prospect of a quick finish to the process we abandoned the effort. She really feels the cold and gets uncomfortable if there is no availability of toilet facilities. As many people were accompanied some sort of number ticketing system might work which would allow the elderly to wait in the car while their carer monitors their place in the queue.

“One good thing was that traffic wardens didn’t seem to be around as a lot of people at the centre will have been there much longer than they expected.”

Jennifer Selig said on the Chiswick forum said, “I hope these chaotic scenes are not repeated - it doesn't need medical staff to organise the place better - any decent office/shop manager could do the job aided by a couple of assistants and some red tape or barriers. It needed a few large signs and two clerical staff telling patients to keep moving through to the back to the ample sized sitting area, (unfortunately sited beyond the treatment cubicles, confused patients all jammed in blocking the narrow pathway).

“Those of us who arrived for appointments for vaccine at CHC at, in my case, 1.20 p.m. yesterday (7 January) had a one and a half hour wait before we actually got inside. Luckily it was a sunny day. But for the frail it must have been a challenge. The atmosphere was good humoured and resigned, and thoughtful; people who clearly had physical or dementia problems were encouraged to move forward through the queue so that they could get into shelter sooner. But enthusiasm for social distancing was patchy. The staff were kindly and helpful, were unable to give information to those further away from the ramps, but once on the ramps they did an effective job in making sure that all those with a specific time slot had their jab at much the same time, albeit much later than the time of their appointments.

" I gather, as I was only asked to come that morning, that the centre had received additional quantities of the vaccine- Pfizer - which I imagine could not have been stored for much longer. In my view the staff did an excellent job with insufficient numbers. But there is a significant danger of elderly people having additional health problems because of the wait, if that were to be repeated on wet days, and cross-infection, if any of those attending had undiagnosed covid-19. “

She added, “But full marks to the staff and to those in the queue, who fully demonstrated the qualities of our generation.”

Local councillor Ron Mushiso has raised the issue with the council. He was told that the Director of Public Health for the borough Kelly O’Neill is aware of the problem and that ‘teams working around the clock to make sure that the vaccination programme is running as effectively as possible given the circumstances. Ms O’Neill said. “We are meeting daily to achieve this objective and I will address this with the leadership team responsible for local delivery later this morning to iron out this issue.”

We have contacted the Hounslow Clinical Commissioning Group for a comment.

January 8, 2021