"Poor communication poses a health risk"

Having always previously communicated Covid jab appointments by letter or telephone, the Sole Bay Health Centre chose to send details of my booster jab appointment by text only, to a defunct mobile number. This meant I missed the appointment, despite having a flawless record of attending previous appointments. No attempt was made by the centre to discover why I hadn't turned up, or to consider that a text message might not be the best way to communicate with an over-75. When I belatedly discovered the error the centre was unsympathetic and said they'd run out of vaccine. The website has no complaints form and features a 'Patient Participatioin Group' which is so opaque it has no identifiable members, no contact details, and no published minutes.

I am therefore not surprised to read that the national take-up of the booster vaccine is so low, if others have faced the kind of obstacle I have experienced with this centre.

I believe this centre needs to reconsider its methods of communicating with elderly patients.