Breaking News:

19/7/21 (updated) - Walk in options for first doses

Sometimes planning something a few weeks in advance can be difficult. For the next few weeks we will be offering some walk in capacity at Milford War Memorial Hospital for first dose COVID-19 vaccinations. You can just turn up on the following dates/times and we will try our best to accommodate you.

• Friday 23rd July - 10am-12pm
• Saturday 24th July - 10am-12pm
• Friday 30th July - 10am-12pm
• Saturday 31st July - 10am-12pm
• Saturday 7th August - 10am-12pm
• Saturday 14th August - 10am-12pm
• Saturday 21st August - 10am-12pm
• Saturday 28th August - 10am-12pm

Remeber a 15 minute observation period is needed following vaccination with Pfizer which is being used for all under 40's.

25/6/21 - NHS app issues for vaccines not given by us

A number of people are having problems getting one or more of their vaccination doses listed on the NHS app. For doses given elsewhere in England you need to contact the place which gave your vaccination. For doses given abroad (including Scotland) we have made enquires to the COVID Vaccination Service Desk regarding this issue and had the following response:

"There is currently no capability to have the data for vaccinations administered abroad (including Scotland) entered into the Point of Care systems. Please do not add data from vaccinations administered abroad into any Point of Care system.

Please also advise the patients to keep/obtain any physical proof that they have had these vaccines.

The NHS App uses data from NHSD DPS (Data Processing Service) which is usually entered through Pinnacle, NIVS or NIMS. However, as previously stated, there is currently no capability to have the data for vaccinations administered abroad entered into the Point of Care systems. Therefore, patient's vaccinations from abroad cannot be visible on the NHS App."

We are sorry that there is nothing we can do about this at this time. You may want to try the Patient Access app (or SystmOne app for Chawton House patients) instead which should list both your vaccinations.

28/5/21 - Request an invitation online

If you are registered with one of our practices (Wistaria & Milford, Chawton House, Lyndhurst and New Forest Medical Group) and are aged 18 or over you are eligible to book in. If you have not received an invite you can use this form. We are finding lots of younger patients have incorrect mobile numbers and no email addresses. You can use this form to give us your up to date details so we can invite you.

You can also use the same form if you have not heard anything about your second dose and it is 8 weeks since your first. We are struggling to contact some people who had their first dose with us. Use the form to tell us the best way to contact you.

19/5/21 - Anyone over 18 now booking

We are now booking anyone aged 18 and over. If you are aged under 40 this will automatically be with the Pfizer vaccine.

16/5/21 - Cancelling an appointment

You can cancel an appointment made using the national booking service by phoning 119. We are not using the national booking service. To cancel a booking with us you should click on the link in your text message regarding the appointment and follow the options on there to cancel. If you did not get a text message then you will need to phone your surgery to rearrange.

14/5/21 - Our Vaccination Centre in the local paper

We have now given over 26,000 doses with this achievement featured in this article in the local paper. Well done to the whole team especially our wonderful volunteers.

13/5/21 - Proof of vaccination

Are you looking for proof you have been vaccinated? This is not something your GP surgery can help you with. You have various options which you will find detailed here.

6/5/21 - Second doses

Please be aware that second dose appointments may be from 8 weeks after the first dose so do not be concerned if you get your invite for a second dose sooner than you were expecting. If you have not heard anything by 12 weeks please contact your surgery to make sure you have not been missed.

26/4/21 - Oakhaven Donations

For the past two weeks Oakhaven Hospice has provided lamination pouches for completed vaccination cards for a suggested donation. So far you have raised £1770.26. Thank you so much for your generosity. The pouches are located at the exit door of the observation room.

22/4/21 - Vaccination and Pregnancy update

New guidance has been released which advises that those who are pregnant should have their vaccination along with other people in their age group (unless in an at risk group when they should have been vaccinated already). It is advised that the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine should be used in this group. We will be contacting our patients who are aged over 30 and pregnant shortly. Those under 30 will need to wait until all the over 30's have been offered a vaccine. 

22/4/21 - AstraZeneca Update

A new leaflet has been released which helps outline the risks and benefits of vaccination with the AstraZeneca vaccine. For those aged 30 and above vaccination with AstraZeneca is strongly recommended apart from in some very rare cases.

8/4/21 - AstraZeneca Update

Following the news yesterday we are cancelling all first dose AstraZeneca appointments for those aged under 30. Second doses in this group are still advised. We do not have alternative vaccine available for this group at the moment so you will need to wait for an update. The vaccination of those aged over 30 with the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine is still strongly recommended.

1/4/21 - Immunocompromised Households

Do you have a weakened immune system and have people aged 16 or above in your household who need prioritising for vaccination? Let us know by using this form.

27/3/21 - Apologies & Thanks

The team would like to apologise for the queues yesterday afternoon. A number of factors conspired to create an unusual situation with a longer queue than normal. Thanks for everyone's patience, we will take steps to try and avoid this occurring in the future. We would also like to thank people for their generosity with various treats for the staff and volunteers being very gratefully received over recent months.

17/3/21 - UPDATED AGAIN - National Booking Available for those aged 50 and above

We are now booking anyone over 50, please do not phone the surgery, we will call you or repond to a text link from us to book. If you are aged 50 and above you can also book using the national booking service via this link or by phoning 119. If you use the national booking service this will not be for an appointment at Milford War Memorial Hospital.

19/2/21 - Shielding update

Have you received a letter to shield which you were not expecting?

The QCovid system which has been used to identify additional high risk people. These letters have not come from your GP surgery. If you have any queries please visit COVID-19 Population Risk Assessment - NHS Digital which has a lot of detail about the tool which has been used. If this does not answer your question about the COVID-19 Population Risk Assessment, please email risk.strat.spl@nhs.net.

18/2/21 - Recommended video:

15/2/21 - Some new updates:

• Priority Groups - we have been advised to move onto group 6 (skipping group 5). Those in group 5 (those aged 65-69) will receive invites from the mass vaccination centres/pharmacies and we would advise taking up these offers. This means we can focus on those with underlying health problems aged 18-64. 
• Health & Social Care workers  - you can now book online or by phone - more details here.
• Second doses - we will start inviting people for second doses soon and these will likely be done in the 11th week after your first dose. You will be contacted by text or phone close to the time it is due.

4/2/21 - New FAQ page added

We have added a new page of Frequently Asked Questions. Please avoid phoning the surgery about the vaccination programme if possible as we need to maintain our normal services for patients. The British Society for Immunology have published "A guide to vaccinations for COVID-19" which is available here.

28/1/21 - A couple of updates:

• Second appointments - we are only booking first appointments at this time. Second appointments will be arranged closer to the time. At the moment we do not know what vaccine is arriving week to week.
• Volunteer transport - Community First New Forest (01425 482773 or nftransport@cfirst.org.uk) may be able to assist with transport to vaccination appointments. There is a charge for petrol. You will need your appointment date and time before you phone.

18/1/21 - Want to discuss an invitation from Bournemouth for vaccination?

Please do not phone your surgery to discuss these letters which were not sent by us. We need to keep phone lines available for unwell patients. We plan to vaccinate all over 80's this week and are in the process of phoning those without appointments to book them in. Those under 80 and in Shielding groups are unlikely to be offered an appointment with us for at least a week so you should consider going to Bournemouth if you would like to.

17/1/21 - Have you received an invitation for vaccination at the BIC in Bournemouth?

It has come to our attention that some of our patients have received invitations to book their vaccinations in Bournemouth. We will be phoning and inviting all those aged over 80 and plan to vaccinate the whole of this population within the next 7 days at Milford. Please take this into account before responding to any written invite.

14/1/21 - We are now booking appointments via text message.

We are sending out booking links via text message to those with mobile phone numbers when they are eligible to book their injection. We will then be phoning those without mobile numbers and those who don't respond to the texts. More information is found on our Appointment Booking Page.

12/3/21 - The start of second doses

Credit: Mirrorpix but appearing in this article in The Sun Newspaper.

Image from the Daily Express

Update 24/12/20:

We have now delivered over 1100 first doses during the 21-23rd of December. These were mainly for people aged 80 and above but we also vaccinated some health and social care workers. We even had a rather special patient who you can read about here.