Sirs,
As a Wiltshire Unitary Councillor I am aware of course that the Covid Vaccination programme is not something which Wiltshire Council is responsible for arranging.
However in the past week I have expressed my concerns to the Marlborough Surgery over the following details of the programme; I was concerned that only vulnerable residents with access to a mobile phone or computer were contacted to arrange an appointment. I reminded the Surgery that not all elderly residents had a mobile phone or computer. I’m relieved that appointments are now being made using the patient’s preferred telephone number whether mobile or landline.
I am however still very disappointed that the ongoing vaccination programme will be carried out at the Pewsey Surgery and not in Marlborough. I know that the Town Council offered both the Town Hall and the old Youth Centre in St Margaret’s Mead to be used but sadly their offer was declined in favour of Pewsey. Of course everyone would like to be vaccinated in their own Town or Village but surely Marlborough is the logical hub and centre for the area with probably the largest number of vulnerable patients to be vaccinated. Many of those Marlborough patients will not find it easy or convenient to travel to Pewsey and may have to rely on making private transport arrangements.
Hopefully KAMP will rethink their decision and organise premises in Marlborough to be used for this all important programme of vaccination. This was ably demonstrated in last year’s Flu Vaccination programme carried out on the College Memorial Hall playing field which was extremely well organised and received praise from everyone receiving the vaccination.
In conclusion I applaud all those carrying out this current programme in these difficult times and the fact that to date nearly 50% of our over 80s have already received a vaccination. However it would be wrong for those making decisions on our behalf to ignore some very real concerns their residents may have over the delivery of this programme.
Yours,
Cllr. Stewart Dobson
Unitary Councillor Marlborough East
Marlborough
Rotary thanks Marlborough and Pewsey
