Coronavirus in Hampshire: Nearly 2,000 Covid jab appointments missed in a week

‘Hundreds’ of jab slots were missed at St James’s Hospital in Milton alone, with nearly 2,000 missed in total when added with Southampton and the Isle of Wight.

The NHS said ‘the real figure is likely to be far higher’ as their data does not include numbers from GP practices.

People are being urged to cancel their appointments if needed, so that they can free them up for other people.

Dr Matt Nisbet, GP partner and clinical lead at the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Covid-19 vaccination programme, said: ‘We know that eligible people are keen to get vaccinated as soon as possible. We are working hard to scale up capacity right across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight but particularly in the areas of greatest need, based on evidence, to help ensure our communities are protected against the virus.

‘To ensure we can offer the vaccine to as many people as possible, it is really important than anyone with a booked appointment who no longer needs it for any reason cancels or moves their slot.’

Angela Anderson, deputy chief nurse at Solent NHS Trust, said: ‘We have had an incredible response from the public to get their vaccinations ever since we first opened the mass vaccination centres across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight in January.

‘However, almost 2,000 appointments at our centres were missed in the last week alone.

‘These unwanted slots could have been offered to other eligible people if they had been cancelled.’

Please help others by cancelling your Covid-19 vaccination appointment if you do not plan to attend or if you have had an earlier appointment elsewhere.’

More than 3.26m jabs have been given in Hampshire since the programmes launched a year ago.

Call 119 to book a jab or booster jab. Anyone who has previously refused a jab can still book in.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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