A woman in her seventies is just one of a number of Highlands residents being offered Covid vaccine boosters hundreds of miles from home.
The OAP, who doesn’t drive, was offered an appointment in Caithness – more than 150 miles from her home in Spean Bridge, Lochaber.
The journey there and back would take almost eight hours by car.
She told The Herald: “As a pensioner who doesn’t drive, it’s very stressful and will mean having to try and reschedule to a much nearer venue.
“I’m sure there are appointment slots much closer to home.”
MSP Kate Forbes confirmed she has been made aware of her constituents in the Dingwall area having to travel to Fort William for an available vaccine slot.
The almost 150-mile round journey would take more than four hours on road and almost 13 hours one-way on a train.
The SNP MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch said some of the appointment options she had seen were “completely unsuitable”.
Ms Forbes said: “I am aware of a small number of instances where Highlanders have been offered vaccination appointments in completely unsuitable locations.
“I have had people near Dingwall being offered slots in Fort William, and obviously someone in Spean Bridge should not have to go to Caithness for an appointment, so something has clearly gone wrong somewhere.
“Whilst NHS Highland covers a huge geographical area, nobody should have to travel four hours each way for a Covid vaccination.
“I would urge those being asked to travel significant distances to check with the vaccination helpline first.
“I would also be happy to raise any individual queries of Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch constituents with NHS Highland.”
Covid boosters brought forward
Those aged 65 or older are being offered Covid vaccines this winter, as well as those younger who are at an increased risk.
The rollout of the boosters was brought forward in Scotland, and the rest of the UK, after a new variant, BA.2.86, was detected last month.
A spokesperson for NHS Highland said: “We try to offer people vaccination appointments as close to home as possible, and have over 100 clinic locations across the Highlands and Argyll and Bute, including in Fort William.
“You can reschedule your appointment or change the location by logging on to the NHS Scotland online booking portal, calling 0800 0320 339 or emailing nhsh.vaccinationenquiries@nhs.scot.”
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