Covid-19 Vaccinations: Local people share their experience

Jon, and his wife Amanda, attended Rutland House for their vaccination

Amanda and I left the house (Cantley) just after 13.10 for a 13.30 & 2.00 appointment at Rutland House. Easy to find - the advice from someone earlier about approaching from Town Moor Avenue direction is sound, as it avoids turning across the traffic to get into Rutland Street. Well signposted, and the car park (though a bit flooded today!) is manned and you are directed where to park.

A slightly regimented approach - leave car, start at one end of a white tent outside the building where you are checked against expected attendees and given a registration/vaccination card, checked against existing illnesses/temperatures/allergies/etc.

As we were together, staff allowed us to go through together and so my 2.00 appointment was actually done as at 1.30, with Amanda's. You proceed to a brief waiting area at the front of the tent, and then enter the building. Your registration card details are then checked and scanned, a few seconds wait, then your arm is jabbed by a nurse. Then, if you are driving, you have a ten-minute waiting room stay (in case of any reactions) - then free to go. We were back home at exactly 2 pm.

Rotten weather for the staff outside in the tent (and for car park attendants, standing in the rain!), so big thanks to them all for doing it.

We'll be contacted, probably by our surgeries, in up to 10 weeks; as more vaccination centres come on stream it may be less than 10 weeks.

All in all, a really simple - and painless! - procedure. Staff have got this down to a fine art, and the throughput of patients is well-timed to minimise delays, and maximise the necessary checks. Well done all concerned! (Don't forget to take your masks with you, by the way...)

John Burke

I received a text [for my appointment] from the NHS. It gave a me a link and it took me to a page and I booked it there, it told me when the next available date was and the time and asking me to confirm my date of birth. It was exceedingly simple and straight-forward.

I turned into Rutland House, parked up and a volunteer guided me to the corner to the entrance. There was a few young people with notepads and directed me to the people who had my information, giving me a paper with a QR code, then to the doctors who asked me questions. Once I answered, the volunteer guided me to the front entrance who took my temperature, gave them the slip of paper who scanned it and told me to wait a minute. I was signposted to a nurse who gave me the injection, asked me if I was driving, gave me a card with details of the batch number etc, then went into a room for 15 minutes as I was driving incase there was a problem. I congratulated the staff on how easy it was and very, very careful how they did it. 

Jasmine Mercier

I was so pleased to be offered the vaccine. It feels like there is now light at the end of the tunnel and the possibility of  a near normal Summer!

Bev

The organisation from start to finish was absolutely brilliant. I was quite nervous to go but everything was so well organised. I was in and out in twenty minutes including a fifteen minute wait after the injection to make sure I felt ok. The injection was given by a volunteer, I honestly didn't feel a thing. The whole team from car park attendants to the person giving the injection needs a huge thank you and well done for doing what they are doing and so successfully. Well done and thank you.