NHS Grampian has admitted to a mix-up with jab appointments as Aberdeen residents started causing confusion by turning up at community venues for their vaccines.
The glitch in the booking system was raised over the weekend after a number of people had to be turned away when they attended various centres – some of which have never been used for vaccinations.
Health bosses have since confirmed a total of six places across the city have been wrongly open for bookings last week – including Cairncry Community Centre, Mannofield Church, Seaton Community Centre, Danestone Medical Practice, Bridge of Don Clinic and Airyhall Clinic.
According to some of the residents affected, the mix-up has only impacted those who have tried to reschedule an appointment as they couldn’t attend their initial one.
Cairncry Community Centre chairwoman Joanne Currie was taken by surprise last week when people started turning up at the centre asking to get their jabs.
She said: “It’s very confusing for them. We put it up on our social media just because we’ve had quite a few people turning up and often they tend to be older people.
“There was one lady that turned up on Sunday. She was an 88-year-old and had walked up the hill from Foresterhill Health Centre to come up to the centre, and of course, to be turned away.
“We have no problem with them turning up at our door. What’s more frustrating from our point of view is that these people are being given false information and they are elderly, vulnerable groups that are coming.”
NHS Grampian ‘extremely sorry’ for the caused inconvenience
NHS Grampian confirmed they have been made aware of the issue and are currently trying to fully resolve it as they continue reaching out to everybody affected.
A spokeswoman for NHS Grampian said: “We are aware that a small number of appointments were incorrectly booked into community venues in Aberdeen City over the weekend.
“As soon as this issue was highlighted to us, we sought to close those venues to prevent people rearranging appointments into them and began the process of contacting individuals to apologise for the error and to advise on rearranging appointments.
“We have contacted most of those affected and we continue to try and contact those we have not been able to reach.
“We are extremely sorry that this situation has arisen and we are confident the issue has now been resolved.
“Appointments remain available at Aberdeen City Vaccination Centre. While there is always the option to reschedule appointments to a more convenient date or time, we do encourage all citizens to attend the initial appointment offered wherever possible