Vaccination

[Purps]

My 82 year old mother is currently being detained under section 3 of the mental health act. She is being treated for a combination of delirium, psycotic episodes and dementia. She has been in hospital since September 2020.

She has had the call for her Covid-19 vacination via her GP but obviously that didn't take place due to her being detained. She has received reminders posted to her home address but we can't arrange appointment due to the Section 3. We have raised our concerns with her own GP, her Care Co-ordinator, the ward Manager and also the Patient Advice Liason Support team for the Trust she's with.

It's been explained at the moment the Trust which the ward is a part of has not yet set up a system (process) for vaccination of long term patients. There are discussions going on with the pharmacy that the ward use but this is ongoing and no dates have been agreed. This decision will not just be based on the ward it will be the Trusts decision which may cover many wards so the ward staff can’t just arrange a vaccination. They are governed by the Trust they work for. Once a process is in place Mum will get a vaccination..

I'm guessing one of the issues might be if what I hear through media sources (and this is a personal opinion) that the viles of the vaccination come in a batches. Once the vile seal has been broken it has to be used in 12 hours (??). The NHS have had targets set that there is to be no more than 5% waste??. As the vaccine is such a precious resource the NHS have probably prioritised to get as many vaccinations done in one place with no waste as opposed to say going to the ward where Mum is where they may only have a small number of long term patients who require the vaccination and so there is the potential to a lot of waste.

If this is the case then I sort of understand the reasoning but morally for me the Trust should have a system/ process in place now so my Mum can have her vaccination

 

[Bunpoots]

Welcome to Dementia Talking Point @Purps . I hope your mum can have her jab soon.

 

[Kellyr]

I dont think theyre such a precious commodity now as apparently 2 million eligilbe pple havent taken up the offer. Theyre advertising on radio saying anyone over 70 who wants it can just turn up or something...as to wether your Mum should have it right now, is it the right thing considering what shes already going through? Any medical intervention isnt risk free and these injections are certainly no exception..

 

[Sarasa]

Hi @Purps, and welcome to Dementia Talking Point. I hope your mother has her vaccination soon. I think it would be in the trusts interests to make sure their staff as well as their patients (whatever age) have the vaccination as soon as possible. I guess you'll just have to keep nagging. Given that the Government is very much pushing that all over 70 have the vaccination by February 15th, I hope you don't have long to wait.

 

[Purps]

Hi @Purps, and welcome to Dementia Talking Point. I hope your mother has her vaccination soon. I think it would be in the trusts interests to make sure their staff as well as their patients (whatever age) have the vaccination as soon as possible. I guess you'll just have to keep nagging. Given that the Government is very much pushing that all over 70 have the vaccination by February 15th, I hope you don't have long to wait.

It's just so frustrating. Mum has obviously not been forgotten about in terms of getting the opportunity from her own GP and the reminder letters from the NHS to make an appointment. It just feels like Mum will go down as a statistic of not taking the offer of a vaccination where as the FACT is that she can't get a vaccination where she is at the moment

 

[Purps]

Welcome to Dementia Talking Point @Purps . I hope your mum can have her jab soon.

Fingers crossed thanks.

 

[Purps]

I dont think theyre such a precious commodity now as apparently 2 million eligilbe pple havent taken up the offer. Theyre advertising on radio saying anyone over 70 who wants it can just turn up or something...as to wether your Mum should have it right now, is it the right thing considering what shes already going through? Any medical intervention isnt risk free and these injections are certainly no exception..

Difficult to know whether right now is the best time with what she's going through right. As you rightly say there is always a balance of risk (side note my job is a safety advisor for a company risk assessment drives me potty ) with anything and medical intervention is no different.
It may just be that Mum becoming ill back in September during a worldwide pandemic couldn't of come at a worse time unfortunately

 

[Kellyr]

Difficult to know whether right now is the best time with what she's going through right. As you rightly say there is always a balance of risk (side note my job is a safety advisor for a company risk assessment drives me potty ) with anything and medical intervention is no different.
It may just be that Mum becoming ill back in September during a worldwide pandemic couldn't of come at a worse time unfortunately

Endless dilemmas nowadays! Hope you get it sorted one way or the other v soon..

 

[Lynmax]

The AstraZenica vaccine is much easier to transport as it can be kept in a normal fridge and split into boxes of ten. That’s why it is being used to inoculate people in small care homes and in their own houses. A GP or district nurse takes a box out to visit ten patients one after the other. So ideal to use in a hospital for small numbers is a ward.

 

[Purps]

The AstraZenica vaccine is much easier to transport as it can be kept in a normal fridge and split into boxes of ten. That’s why it is being used to inoculate people in small care homes and in their own houses. A GP or district nurse takes a box out to visit ten patients one after the other. So ideal to use in a hospital for small numbers is a ward.

Thanks for this. So for me this is still difficult for me to accept why the trust are struggling with implementing a system for the ward to ensure vaccination of small numbers

 

[Linsac]

Sorry to hear your mum has been in hospital so long. My mum was also detained on a section 3 for 3 months last year. However, I was permitted to take her out to appointments, the consultant just had to authorize leave for her. Is your mum not well enough to go to a vaccination centre or are you not close enough to be able to take her?

 

[Purps]

Sorry to hear your mum has been in hospital so long. My mum was also detained on a section 3 for 3 months last year. However, I was permitted to take her out to appointments, the consultant just had to authorize leave for her. Is your mum not well enough to go to a vaccination centre or are you not close enough to be able to take her?

Thanks for response. To be fair I have not asked for authorization from her consultant. Distance isn't an issue.
My main concern would be that if I were to take Mum for a vaccination I'm more or less 100% sure that her expectation of me would be to take her home afterwards and not back to the ward and what her reaction would be when I told her she has to go back to the ward.

 

[Jessbow]

The ward/home in which she is, will have to have been covid free for 28 days before the team will go in and do it.
Its a problem with where larger groups of people are together.

 

[Purps]

The ward/home in which she is, will have to have been covid free for 28 days before the team will go in and do it.
Its a problem with where larger groups of people are together.

Thanks for your response. But the fact still remains the Trust have not formalised a process / system before a team will go in even if the Ward where Mum is was free of covid for 28 days.