Janet Finch-Saunders, Member of the Welsh Parliament for Aberconwy and Older People’s Champion, has called for Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board to ramp up efforts to communicate with residents about the vaccination roll out.

The calls come following the Member’s request this week for the Welsh Government to adhere to their original vaccination timescales as a means of confronting poor mental health amongst elderly residents,  address the failure to deliver an effective vaccination rollout, and a promise made by the health board to the Member that so to help keep people up-to-date with the vaccination programme, every household in North Wales would receive a letter. This has not happened in Aberconwy.

Despite the Member seeking clarity on communication, the problem with the letters has not yet been addressed. She has however been advised that:

• all 98 GP practices in North Wales are now part of the vaccination programme
• the majority of GP practices have already started administering the vaccines and the rest will come on line in the coming days
• the health board did initially prioritise distribution of vaccines to those practices who had the greatest number of patients aged over 80 and patients in care homes
• the focus remains on ensuring that all persons within the top two groups are offered vaccination by the end of January
• from this weekend, the Mass Vaccination Centres are open six days a week, with the intention of moving to seven days a week working the following week
• the health board is on track to vaccinate all the over 80’s by the end of the month, vaccine supplies permitting.

Commenting on the situation, Janet stated:

“I commend the tireless effort of the health board to try and roll out the vaccines efficiently, but they must adhere to promises and improve communication.

“Whilst I acknowledge that helpful information about the vaccinations is available online, over a third of older people – around a quarter of a million people – do not make personal use of the internet.

“In fact that figure is 60 per cent for those aged over 75, meaning that those aged 80 and over who have been waiting to hear when they will receive the vaccination are unlikely to have been able to counteract the failure of the board to issue letters by going online.

“Over six weeks on from the start of the roll out in Wales it is unacceptable that communication remains substandard, and that many older residents feel left in the dark this woeful winter”

ENDS