Concerns housebound elderly people in Mansfield are 'slipping through' Covid-19 vaccine net

Nic Cooke, 56 and her sister Kay Speed both care for their housebound, disabled mother Mary, alongside full time carers at her home in Mansfield Woodhouse.

The 90-year-old has advanced Alzheimer's, along with a bowel condition, making it impossible for her to leave the house.

Mary’s daughters are worried their mother will miss her chance of getting the Covid-19 vaccine as she is unable to travel to a vaccination centre and has not been visited by the county’s roving hospital team who can administer the jab to people in their homes.

Kay said she received a call from Oakwood Surgery two weeks ago telling her that Mary might be vaccinated at her property on January 27 but nobody turned up.

Despite calling the NHS number on her mother’s two vaccination letters over 20 times, Nic claimed she has been unable to speak to anyone to rearrange a home-visit for Mary’s immunisation jab to be administered.

NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire CCG confirmed that housebound residents and their relatives will be directly contacted by GPs and local roving teams to arrange an appointment.

But the 56-year-old, who has written to Mansfield MP Ben Bradley about the issue, is concerned her mother who has not left the house in over two years may be forgotten about, alongside other housebound residents, as healthcare workers move down the Government’s vaccine priority list.

"The letters are sent out to get us to book for her to have the vaccine at a centre, but there's no option if you're housebound”, Nic said.

"It is very, very frustrating.

"I try not to be a keyboard warrior, I am more the sort of person who tries to phone up and get some information but when I'm doing it it's like I'm facing a brick wall.

"No one knows what to do and there's no number to find out.

"There's quite a few people who are in the same position, who don't know when someone will come out to their housebound relative either.

"They said at the start that they were doing all the over 80s and now they are doing the 70s but these people who are housebound, some of them have got done and some of them haven't.

"If they don't want to vaccinate these people because they are housebound and they think they are low-risk because they only have the risk of the carers coming in and relatives, then I would sooner them be honest and just say you don't want to vaccinate this group of people.”

A spokesperson for NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire CCG said: “Anyone identified as housebound through GP records will receive a letter telling them they are eligible for a Covid-19 vaccination appointment.

"Local GPs and the roving team will contact residents directly to arrange their appointment to make sure all housebound residents are reached.

"If anyone who is housebound has not received a letter, they should call the booking line on 0115 883 4640.”

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