New shuttle buses are to be provided and a special vaccination team set up to serve people who are housebound as NHS Lanarkshire responds to concerns about moving its Covid-19 immunisation programme to two “supercentres”.
Monklands residents are now being invited to attend appointments at Ravenscraig sports centre in Motherwell – with the previous venue at Sir John Wilson town hall in Airdrie now no longer being used, while the Time Capsule centre in Coatbridge will only be in occasional use for rescheduled visits.
Health board officials say the new set-up will allow the county’s population to be vaccinated more quickly, saying that nearly 230,000 people have already had the vaccine and adding: “If people can travel to a supercentre, we will complete the programme around two months faster.”
NHS Lanarkshire is working with Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) on running direct services and amending existing bus routes to help reach the Motherwell and East Kilbride supercentres, and is producing a new travel guide.
SPT has also set up a dedicated enquiry service for queries on public transport to the vaccination clinics, which can be accessed online or contacted on 0141 465 1878 and is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Mobile vaccination units are being established for more rural areas and those unable to attend supercentres or the seven local venues including Coatbridge; and the health board add: “A housebound vaccination team has been created for those who cannot leave their home.”
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Dr Mark Russell, who is leading the Covid-19 vaccination programme in Lanarkshire, said: “Our updated plans will help us protect our communities as quickly as possible and support the wider NHS to keep other services running.
“More people being vaccinated quicker is the simplest and most important step we can take to help life get back to normal, faster.
“It wouldn’t be possible to do this without maximising our supercentres, so we’re asking for people’s help – if you can attend your appointment in a supercentre, please do so; this leaves the local centres for those who absolutely need it.
“Attending your vaccination appointment is the most important journey you’ll make this year, which is why we are asking communities to make an extra effort to attend as soon as they are invited.
“Our plans will remain flexible and we can adapt them to meet the needs of the service.”
Moving to the supercentre set-up prompted concern from Airdrie politicians Neil Gray and Alex Neil; and now from Central Scotland MSP Richard Leonard, who has this week written to health secretary Jeane Freeman asking for a centre in Airdrie to be reinstated.
The Central Scotland representative insists local sites need to be re-established “as a matter of urgency”, saying constituents are concerned about travel difficulties and costs and calling the distances concerned “unacceptable”.
He told the Airdrie and Coatbridge Advertiser: “More than 1200 people in Lanarkshire have died from Covid-19, one of the highest levels in the UK; it’s vital that we get as many people vaccinated as possible and to ensure the high levels of uptake we’ve seen so far, we must remove any barriers to access.
“Those who are the most vulnerable are those who are also less likely to be car owners and so unable to get to the Ravenscraig site. Healthcare should be as local as possible; regrettably, that is not the case with the Covid-19 vaccination programme.”
NHS Lanarkshire say: “We understand that these plans will not be suitable for everyone, which is why we’ve included local centres across Lanarkshire; we’ve listened to the concerns raised about accessing the supercentres and are putting in place additional support to help.
“Travelling to your vaccination appointment is an essential journey regardless of distance, no different to attending a hospital appointment; and car sharing is also allowed to travel to an appointment if there are no other alternatives.”
