NHS Lanarkshire has issued an apology after people were forced to queue for hours in freezing conditions outside Airdrie town hall awaiting their Covid-19 vaccination.
The delay amid snowy weather on Monday morning, which also saw elderly patients having to “shuffle along in chairs” as they could no longer stand, was caused by “unexpected staff absences” and on-site training for medical staff resulting in the vaccine process “taking longer than expected”.
Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser readers contacted us to highlight the lengthy queues and the burden on the few nurses on-hand to administer the vaccinations.
One told us: “My dad turned up on time for his 9.30am appointment and had to wait for two hours.
“He got there to find a big queue outside, then got into the town hall and the queue was snaking round inside too.
“They had nine seats on the floor for people to get their jabs and only two nurses were doing them. They told my dad two others had phoned in sick..
“Some of the elderly people who couldn’t stand were shuffling along in chairs.”
Another reader got in touch to say: “My mum was at Airdrie town hall to get her vaccine and said there was a large queue because only one nurse from the intended eight turned up.
“The poor woman [nurse] had to do the shift on her own.
“People had to stand out in the snow for a while. My mum was there at 9.15am and left an hour later, by which point only one other nurse had turned up.”
The health board has vowed to redeploy “more experienced staff” to certain sites to ensure the “staff complement is increased”.
A spokesperson added: “We would like to apologise to anyone who had to wait at any of our vaccination centres.
“We have increased the scale of our programme which, unfortunately, comes with its own challenges.
"Staff have training and supervision requirements which are happening on-site, which led to our vaccination throughput taking longer than expected. We also experienced unexpected staff absences.
“Moving forward, more experienced staff from across the organisation are being redeployed to certain sites to make sure the staff complement is increased.
“Senior management will also be on hand to troubleshoot any unexpected issues which may also occur.
“We would like to thank everyone for their patience as we deliver the largest ever vaccination programme as quickly and as safely as possible.”
