The vaccination situation at the Royal Free Charity Recreation Club premises

• AS a member of Patient Participation Group at Hampstead Group Practice, Fleet Road, I wish to inform you about the vaccination situation at the Royal Free Charity Recreation Club premises which is affecting patients of the surgery.

My wife and I booked appointments for 8.30am & 8.40am. Approaching the premises, we were very concerned to see no social distance between the people queueing.

As you can see from the picture, above, those lining up outside in the cold are those most at risk, the elderly. And it’s very worrying that there’s no one overseeing their safety.

In addition to the long queues outside, we saw people exiting the same door of the club as those outside were waiting to enter. So no safe, one-way, system appears to have been in place.

After 10 months of shielding we are not prepared to risk contracting Covid-19 because of inadequate safety precautions, so felt unable to attend our appointments.

So, unfortunately, we were DNAs. We did try immediately to cancel and reschedule using the app, but there was no option to do this, so we’re unsure what to do now.

The vaccine organisers need to be aware of this and of concerns for the continuing health of elderly patients, such as ourselves.

ALAN MARGOLIS,
NW3