NHS Highland’s public health director has said the national booking platform for covid-19 booster vaccinations can be a “considerable challenge” for remote and rural areas.

Tim Allison also told Argyll and Bute IJB that NHS Highland – where GPs have expressed opposition to the plans - is “behind the curve” on reforms that see responsibility for all vaccinations move from GPs to health boards.

GPs working in the Highlands and Argyll & Bute have questioned the health board’s ability to deliver vaccinations across vast distances through a centralised service.

Last month Argyll & Bute HSCP apologised for a ‘a considerable number of errors in communication of available clinics and appointment letters’ that led to public ‘uncertainty, anxiety and inconvenience’.

One older resident told healthandcare.scot they had been sent a booster vaccine appointment letter with an incorrect venue address venue, and then faced long queues down the street in the “cold and wet”.

Speaking at a meeting of the HSCP IJB this week the Associate Nurse Director of NHS Highland, Elizabeth Higgins, said “we did have a plan and we are on plan, but we didn’t tell anybody”.

Administration of booster shots has already moved to health board-run clinics and centres in most areas in Scotland, though GPs are still responsible for their delivery in island areas of Argyll & Bute.

While many people in NHS Highland will receive their invitation by letter, telephone scheduling is now in use for booster appointments which has seen more success, but concerns remain over capacity.

All other mainland health boards have been able to use a national online booking portal to support their booster and flu vaccination delivery since the middle of November.

Inverness will pilot the advance booking system across dedicated vaccination clinics for two days this week.

If successful, this will be extended across the HSCP, which the Interim Chief Officer of Argyll & Bute Integration Joint Board (IJB), Fiona Davies, says is the “optimum model”.

But Mr Allison told the meeting this will not be easy on account of the region’s unique geography and population:

“It’s a particular challenge as lots of the models are more urban-based, around having a small number of big vaccination centres that people will arrive in and it’s a lot more straightforward then to do the booking.

“Ideally, yes we would certainly like to and it’s the plan to move to the national platform…but given there will be a lot of clinics in a lot of different places, the challenge needed to build that infrastructure is quite considerable and there’s quite a considerable risk of things going wrong.”

The role of GPs in vaccine delivery will come to an end in April 2022 after instruction from the Scottish government.

Mr Allison said the “whole of NHS Highland is somewhat behind the curve” in the so-called vaccination transformation programme, where responsibility for routine vaccinations will move from general practice administration to board administration.

“Things do happen fairly quickly then get changed fairly quickly and it can be difficult to actually accommodate some of those changes.”

Susan Ringwood, a non-executive director at NHS Highland, said the same issues were present in general practice’s delivery:

“The communication was really very poor and absent in most places…whether it was GP led or board led”.

Read more: GPs question transfer of vaccinations to health boards; GPs’ role in routine vaccination to end Islands & rural areas ‘overlooked’ in NCS

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