Message to our patients – update on the COVID-19 booster programme

Across Sussex the NHS and its partners are working extremely hard to roll out the COVID-19 booster vaccination programme to our communities.

All adults are eligible from Monday 13 December, and you will be able to book via the National Booking System from Wednesday 15 December.

You can book your booster for 3 months from the date of second vaccine, and you can access the National Booking System to book the appointment from 2 months. 

We are working at pace to increase the availability of appointments so that there are plenty of options for people on the National Booking System. Some local vaccination services will also contact patients directly.

New appointments are being added every day across our vaccination services. We have been offering more than 80,000 appointments a week and in the last two weeks we have increased the number of available appointments by more than 10,000 a week. Further availability will come online from Wednesday 15 December. 

We will be working with all of our sites to take further steps to increase what they can offer again, including opening later and on more days. 

All of these appointments will be added to the National Booking System and so we encourage everyone who is aged 18 and over, is yet to have their booster and who is approaching 3 months from your second vaccine to use the National Booking System to arrange your appointment when you are able to do so.

In terms of any planned appointments with <insert name of the GP practice>, there are no changes at the current time and everyone should attend your planned appointments as normal. If we need to make any changes, we will contact you directly.

See more about the vaccination programme in Sussex, including the vaccination services: COVID-19 vaccinations - Sussex Health & Care Partnership (sussexhealthandcare.uk)

BOOK YOUR FLU VACCINATION APPOINTMENT NOW

The GP’s at The Haven seek to encourage every eligible patient to have their free flu jab this year. Perhaps you are delaying booking an appointment until more is known about the Covid-19 booster programme, or you are hesitant because there were very few cases of flu last year and you feel fit and well at the moment? You may be waiting for more information from the government or from other reputable sources? In any case, our sincere advice to our patients ,is that you should pre-book your flu vaccination appointment as soon as possible.

Our receptionists are waiting to hear from you.

Data Sharing Opt-Out.  You can choose whether your confidential information is used for research and planning. Please refer to the Tab Data Opt-Opts to find out more about what types of opt-outs and visit: https://www.nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters/ or click here to watch the video.

Important:  Data Extraction has been postponed by NHS Digital and we will post new date when information is known no current date is planned. 

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NHS App - if you are downloading the App and you need your Linkage Key you must be registered with Patient Access.  If you are it can be found under My Account>Account Settings>My Practice (bottom right on screen)

The NHS App and the NHS COVID-19 app are two different apps.

The NHS App lets you share your COVID-19 status, order repeat prescriptions and a range of NHS services.

The NHS COVID-19 app is a contact tracing app, which also lets you check in to places like bars and restaurants

Any patients who are seen in the Practice now need to wear a face covering or mask if asked to attend an appointment. 

We are now offering  Video Consultations as well as Telephone Consultations to our patients.  When your appointment is booked we will send simple instructions on how to use.  Please refer to our Online Services tab with step by step instructions.