NHS Lanarkshire apologises to Cumbernauld pensioners who waited in bitter cold for their jabs

The health chiefs have admitted that there were operational problems at the venue chosen as Cumbernauld’s mass vaccination centre  after members of the public told us that only a skeleton staff  was on hand to administer the jabs as further waits were faced by attendees who had braved the bitter cold.

One of them said: “I waited with many others outside with no shelter for 50 minutes then inside for another 15. This was in freezing cold conditions with snow on the ground and the snow whirling about us.

“There were only three vaccinators working. It was shockingly bad organisation. Winter in Cumbernauld is always bad but this is appalling!

”While welcoming the fact that the centre was being used to treat so many patients, Cumbernauld Action Care For The Elderly’s Ann Innes said “ It was concerning to hear that some people may have had to wait for a long time outside in very poor weather.

“We appreciate the huge logistical challenges of delivering a mass vaccination programme and hope that any factors that might have led to some people having to wait longer than expected today can be identified and resolved.

”A NHS Lanarkshire spokesperson said: “We would like to apologise to anyone who had to wait at any of our vaccination centre on Monday.

“ 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 deal with 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.”