Our practice vaccinated thousands of patients in the earlier stages of the COVID-19 vaccination programme, and we are so grateful to our wonderful practice team as well as brilliant local volunteers whose dedication and commitment enabled us to help protect our community from COVID-19. 

The vaccination programme is now entering its next phase, with booster vaccinations being offered to those most at risk of COVID-19.

We are not offering these booster vaccinations at our practice, so if you are eligible, and it has been at least six months since your second dose, then please visit www.nhs.uk/covidvaccine or call 119 to book.

Please note booster vaccines cannot be accessed on a walk-in basis.

If you have yet to get your first dose or you are due your second dose, you can choose to book your appointments via www.nhs.uk/covidvaccine or by calling 119, or you can find a local walk-in venue near you via www.thevaccinators.co.uk.

Further information on the COVID-19 vaccination programme, including frequently asked questions and patient information leaflets here https://www.cambridgeshireandpeterboroughccg.nhs.uk/news-and-events/latest-news/covid-19-national-vaccination-programme/.

Alconbury & Brampton Surgeries have made the difficult decision that we will not be delivering the covid boosters for our patients.

 As part of the A1 Network we have opted not to deliver this service as the Practices feel the need to concentrate our efforts on providing our core services to patients in what is proving a challenging time.

 The CCG are currently finalising their plans as to how and where the boosters will be delivered.

There are not any PCNs locally providing this service and we anticipate this may mean patients are asked attend a mass vaccination centre or hospital hub. Once we know more we will share the information with you.

 We thank you for your patience and understanding.

PLEASE NOTE – information correct as of 6 September 2021

At the moment only a limited number of vaccination sites in our area can offer the COVID-19 vaccination to eligible children aged 12-15. This is due to the fact that the national guidance that has been published to date only enables GP-led vaccination hubs and hospital hubs to vaccinate this group of children.

The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) have informed us that they are awaiting further national guidance, known as the Standard Operating Procedure, that will allow the large scale vaccination centres in our area to start offering the COVID-19 vaccination to eligible children between 12-15 years old.

The CCG have been assured by our national colleagues that the arrival of this guidance is imminent.

In our area we have a limited number of GP-led vaccination hubs that are able to vaccinate eligible children. We also do not currently have hospital hubs in operation as part of the COVID-19 vaccination programme, which is why it has been difficult to offer the vaccination to eligible children whilst we await the Standard Operating Procedure from NHS England.

The CCG have asked us to reassure you that they will open our large scale vaccination centres to eligible children as soon as possible once we have received the necessary national guidance.

Once they are in a position to do this, the CCG website will be updated at www.cambridgeshireandpeterboroughccg.nhs.uk <http://www.cambridgeshireandpeterboroughccg.nhs.uk> with advice on how your child can access the vaccination. 

The CCG would like to offer our apologies for the delay as they await further guidance from NHS England.

 FAQs

• Why can’t I get my child vaccinated at your practice?

Our practice joined the vaccination programme in January 2021, and we have helped the local NHS deliver well over a million vaccinations. At this moment in time, we are not offering the COVID-19 vaccine at our practice, which is why we cannot invite your child to have their vaccine at our surgery.

We are working closely with the CCG to ensure that all of our eligible 12-15 year old patients can access the vaccine safely.

• Can I access travel support to help me get me and my child to the vaccination appointment?

Yes. If you need travel support to help you and your child attend the vaccination appointment, you can arrange this by calling the Local Authorities’ travel support team via 0345 045 5219.

• How do I know the vaccine is safe for my child?

The JCVI has reviewed extensive clinical evidence for the safety of giving the COVID-19 vaccine to children and young people in the eligible groups and have determined it to be safe and effective. The JCVI has determined that the benefit of vaccinating children in these groups outweighs the risks.

• Do I need to be present for my child’s vaccination?

Yes, if your child is aged 12-15 you or another legal guardian will need to be present for their vaccination in order to give consent for the vaccination.

• Why isn’t my child eligible?

The NHS vaccinates in line with guidance from the independent JCVI (Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation), which provides expert advice on vaccinations to UK health departments. The JCVI recommends that only certain groups of children and young people are vaccinated because of a combination of factors including their risk of getting seriously ill from coronavirus, passing it to others who may become seriously ill, and evidence of safety and effectiveness.

Please see the attached guidance for patients with suspected coronavirus who have not been admitted to hospital and will be isolating at home.

The A1 Network would like to thank our amazing team of staff and volunteers, who have delivered a total of almost 45,000 vaccinations from the Alconbury and Little Paxton GP vaccination hubs to patients of Alconbury & Brampton, Buckden & Little Paxton, Kimbolton, Almond Road and Wellside surgeries.

We have now offered a first dose of vaccine to everyone who will be eligible for vaccination up to July (except for a few people for whom we do not hold valid contact information). Everyone who has had their first dose at our hubs will be called by us for their second dose between 8 and 12 weeks from the first.

We will have vaccine allocated to us for these second doses, so it is important that you return to us for your second dose to maximise protection and minimise wastage.

As a Network we have, however, made the difficult decision to stop administering first doses of vaccine after 26th May, when Little Paxton will have used their final first dose delivery of Pfizer vaccines.

Anyone requesting a first dose of vaccine after this date should call 119 where they will be given an appointment at a vaccination centre or chemist using the National Booking System.

We have taken this decision because we need to focus on delivering core GP services to our patients whilst completing outstanding second doses. We have always and continue to remain open to patients with face to face appointments available when clinically indicated following an initial telephone consultation.

We remain committed to providing our patients a high standard of care as we work to balance the needs of patients with the services we are currently able to offer within current social distancing restrictions.

We would like to thank our patients and the local community for their overwhelming support over the last 5 months. We are proud of the part we have played in the vaccination programme and look forward to continuing in our provision of a patient focussed Primary Care service to our Network population.

Frankie Lasman           Melanie Gearing

Clinical Director          Practice Manager

A1 Network                 Alconbury Surgery

Please see the attached Local Vaccination Programme News written by Dr Lasman, A1 PCN Clinical Director below. 

Please also remember to let your surgery know if you have recently updated your mobile number.

As 2nd doses are underway we would like to take this opportunity to encourage patients to have the vaccine when offered. The vaccine has been allocated in numbers that mirror first doses given and so if you do not attend for your vaccination we cannot guarantee future stock availability at an alternative time.

Following the change in guidance in relation to the Astra Zeneca vaccine for the under 30s, the attached information shows that the benefits for most outweigh the risk and will hopefully help patients make an informed decision that they feel comfortable with.

Not only is it important for those most at risk to be vaccinated but the greater the level of vaccine uptake within the population, the reduced risk for everyone ultimately as it will reduce the incidence of virus circulating in the community and the likelihood of new variants emerging.

Melanie Gearing

Practice Manager

Alconbury & Brampton Surgeries have opted IN to phase 2 of the vaccination programme which means our patients age 18-49 will receive an invitation to attend Alconbury Surgery in the coming weeks via accurx.

You may also receive an invite by letter or text to attend a local mass vaccination centre. Please use the link supplied to reply to our text should you wish to decline the offer of a vaccination with us or choose to be vaccinated elsewhere. This enables us to ensure the vaccination reaches those who want it as quickly as possible.

Thank you.
Melanie Gearing

The A1 Network continues to deliver the Covid vaccination programme to our patients as NHSE vaccine supplies allow.

As of 14th March we have vaccinated 17781 patients from our 2 PCN community hubs which is 50% of our patients over the age of 16.

At Alconbury & Brampton Surgeries we have vaccinated:

93% of our Clinically extremely vulnerable (shielded) patients

69% of our high risk patients age 16+

98% of our patients aged 80+

98% of patients age 75-79

96% of patients age 70-74

95% of patients age 65-69

88% of patients age 60-64

We will continue to work through our remaining cohorts to age 50 for the first dose of vaccine and are proactively working to identify any patients who may have been missed for any reason.

If you do NOT want a vaccine or have attended elsewhere and receive and invite text from us then please do REPLY to the text to inform us. 

We are expecting to invite patients for their second dose of vaccine 11 weeks from their first and once we have confirmation of delivery dates we will send invites via text.

Please do not contact our reception team regarding this as they have no further information and it may restrict access to our core GP service.

Thank you to our volunteers, our teams and the local community for your ongoing support of our part in the vaccination programme.

Melanie Gearing.
Practice Manager

To allay concerns about the headlines regarding blood clots and the Oxford Astra Zeneca vaccine, I should like to give you some facts. There is NO evidence that the vaccine causes blood clots. Decisions to “pause” vaccination programmes in some countries are purely political, and not evidence based.

We have in the UK , so far, given over 20 million doses of AZ vaccine over the last 3 months. There have only been 30 reported cases of “thrombotic events” or blood clots, and one of these sadly was fatal.

However, blood clots are common- In the UK 1 in 1000 people get a blood clot every year , so in 3 months you would expect 1 in 4000 people to get a clot.

It is likely that, by chance, some of these clots might just happen to be a day or 2 after vaccination. Amongst vaccinated people, the above stats show 1 in 60,000 people only have had a clot which is related in time to the vaccine.

So fewer people have had a clot than you would expect just by chance! The statistics might make you believe that you should actually get vaccinated to prevent clots! (which of course, is nonsense, just as it is also nonsense to say that the vaccine causes clots, on current evidence).

There is more explanation in the following article, if you are interested: https://www.theguardian.com/…/evidence-oxford-vaccine.

Dr Frankie Lasman

A1 PCN clinical director

c/o Alconbury surgery

The A1 Network continue to invite patients to attend for their covid vaccinations at Alconbury & Little Paxton Surgeries. We are vaccinating patients in priority order and are making good progress to include all patients age 50+ or 18+ and at moderate risk of covid.

If you receive an invite and have already booked your vaccine elsewhere or wish to decline then please do reply to the text and advise us. We are currently spending a lot of time chasing patients who do not intend to attend but remain sitting on our recall list.

We have to attempt 3 calls and send a letter before these patients can be removed and we can offer the vaccine to someone else.

We anticipate offering 2nd doses 11 weeks after the first. Delivery details are just being finalised and 2nd dose invites should be arriving in the next week.

Thank you for your support.
Melanie Gearing
Practice Manager

The A1 Network continue to deliver the vaccination programme as vaccine supplies are made available to us. We will continue to work through the Government identified cohorts to vaccinate patients in line with national guidance.

As of 2nd March we have vaccinated 15285 patients from our 2 PCN community hubs which is 43% of our patients over the age of 16. This includes:

97.5% of patients aged 80+

96.5% of patents aged 75-79

96% of patients aged 70-74 and

89% of patients considered extremely vulnerable (including more recently added patients).

We do not have any further information yet about second doses. We anticipate that we will be asked to deliver them at around 12 weeks which means we may potentially have a very busy Easter break! Please do NOT contact the surgeries regarding second doses. If you are eligible then when we have vaccine allocated for this you will receive an invite.

Thank you

Melanie Gearing

Practice Manager

The A1 Network has been working hard to deliver the Covid vaccination programme to our patients in line with government guidance.

As of 14th February we have vaccinated 11282 patients from our 2 PCN community hubs which is 32% of our patients over the age of 16. This includes:
91% of patients aged 80+
95% of patents aged 75-79
94% of patients aged 70-74 and
90% of patients considered extremely vulnerable.

More than 79% of patients in care homes have been vaccinated and work with the community nursing team is ongoing to ensure all housebound patients are offered their first vaccination by the end of this week.

We will continue to work through our existing cohorts in line with government guidance and are proactively working to identify any patients who may have been missed for any reason. We will be in touch again when we know more about delivery of second doses, we have not yet been given guidance.

All of the above would not have been possible without the incredible ongoing support of our Practice teams and our fabulous volunteers and we would like to thank everyone who has contributed their time to make this possible.

Thank you

Melanie Gearing.
Practice Manager

Please see this useful video about booking your vaccination, kindly shared with us from another practice.

• https://www.alconburybramptonsurgery.co.uk/info.aspx?p=1

Please see this useful Vaccine Facts poster.

A personal thank you to absolutely everyone involved in the start of the A1 network Covid vaccinations programme January 2021.

To everyone who has been involved in helping to deliver the first 10,000 vaccines to our most vulnerable residents and workers, across the A1 network, which includes Alconbury and Brampton surgeries, Almond Road, Buckden and Little Paxton, Kimbolton and Sawtry (Wellside) surgeries, a huge THANK YOU!

From the core team who have worked long days 7 days a week for the last 3 weeks, to all the practice staff, who have either been part of vaccine teams or supported them by doing the daily work of General Practice, to the many fabulous volunteers helping with every aspect of vaccine logistics (and often in the freezing cold), and the volunteers who are ready and waiting to help in the next run of clinics, to the locals who put up with the additional traffic, to the friends and neighbours who brought frail people to the vaccination hubs, and to the people being vaccinated, who are helping to defeat the virus just by being vaccinated.

Thank you!

This is just the start of a long process, and there will be a few more challenges yet, but we are learning how to make the process better at each clinic, and look forward to being able to plan clinics with known vaccine delivery dates (currently we are given less than a week’s notice of delivery), and letting those people who have yet to get their vaccine know when it will be available.

If you have not yet been vaccinated, or know someone locally who has not yet been vaccinated and are aged over 70 or are a health or social care worker, please let your local practice know.

Everyone who has not yet been vaccinated (at any age) can also help the programme by making sure that your GP practice has correct contact details (ideally a mobile phone number), as you will be contacted by text to book your appointment via an automated system. 

The text comes from accurx.thirdparty.nhs.uk and takes you to a survey link to book your appointment. 

This should help you to tell it is not a scam. If you do not have a mobile phone, someone will contact you on your landline to book your appointment.

Don’t forget- the vaccine will not yet provide full protection and you must still distance etc

Stay safe!

Dr Francesca Lasman

 Clinical director A1 primary care network

GP surgeries in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough prepare to give Covid-19 vaccinations.

GP practices in the A1 area of Cambridgeshire will start to deliver Covid-19 vaccinations to local residents aged over 80 from 20 January, as the roll out of the biggest vaccination programme in NHS history gains further momentum.

Health providers are setting up local vaccination centres at the Alconbury Surgery and Little Paxton Surgery. They have worked rapidly to put in place safe processes to meet the tough logistical challenges of offering the vaccination.

Their teams have been working hard to contact local residents aged over 80 to book them in for an appointment to be vaccinated against Covid-19. The NHS will contact people in the priority groups when it is their turn to receive the vaccine.

Dr Francesca Lasman, a recently retired local GP who has come out of retirement to help deliver the vaccination programme in Cambridgeshire said,

“We are delighted to support the biggest and most highly anticipated national immunisation campaign in history by vaccinating and protecting our vulnerable local residents against Covid-19.”
“I would like to thank the team of practice staff from local practices who have worked long hours to bring the project together, and the very large team of local volunteers who will be helping us to deliver the vaccinations going forward.”

“Please do not call your GP practice to book, we will contact you. If you are invited to book an appointment, we would encourage you to take up the opportunity. When you attend your appointment, you will need to follow social distancing guidance, bring and wear a face covering or visor, and follow hand hygiene guidance. These steps help to save lives.
“We want to reassure patients that our GP practices will remain open and if you have any urgent medical concerns you should contact us.”

Dr Gary Howsam, Chair at Cambridgeshire and Peterborough CCG said,

“GPs and their teams have been working incredibly hard this winter, especially over the Christmas and New Year period, to see and treat patients, and to get ready for delivering the COVID-19 vaccine to care homes. General Practice is very experienced in delivering vaccinations, and I would urge everyone who is offered the vaccine to have it to help protect them from COVID-19.”

“Staff across the NHS are working to roll-out the vaccine as quickly as possible to patients who are most at risk of the virus, with hospital hubs already delivering the vaccine to people over the age of 80.”

GP sites providing vaccinations will be spread across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, more will join on a phased basis.

More information about the Covid-19 vaccination in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough is available https://www.cambridgeshireandpeterboroughccg.nhs.uk/news-and-events/latest-news/covid-19-national-vaccination-programme/ 

Covid Vaccination Update

We are pleased to advise that our Primary Care Network (Alconbury & Brampton, Buckden & Little Paxton, Kimbolton, Almond Road and Wellside Surgeries) have agreement to participate in the Covid vaccination delivery programme for our patients.

It is anticipated that we will offer this service from both Alconbury and Little Paxton Surgeries as community hubs and we hope to be able to start vaccinating in the next 2-3 weeks.

If you are in one of the priority groups for vaccination and we do not have a current mobile phone number for you then please help us by emailing your mobile phone number along with your name, date of birth, address and agreement for us to communicate via text message to [email protected].

This will facilitate being able to make an appointment for your vaccination at the appropriate time. If you do not have a mobile phone then we will still make sure you are contacted regarding your appointment.

As per the NHS England advice please do not contact us about the vaccine at the moment, you will be contacted as soon as it is possible to arrange your vaccination.

We are currently planning the delivery of this service and the situation is changing on a daily basis. We would like to reassure you that we are keen to see that the coronavirus vaccination is offered to our patients as soon as possible.

We thank you for your ongoing support and patience.

Melanie Gearing

Practice Manager

COVID-19 Vaccination Programme

The NHS has started to vaccinate the most at-risk priority groups including over-80s, social and health care workers in local hospital hubs and a few community hubs.

Whilst a few GP surgeries will be established as Covid vaccination hubs, the vaccinations are not being routinely delivered by GP Surgeries.

People most at risk of the complications of Covid-19 are being offered the vaccine first.

Currently those eligible may have received a text, letter or have been called by Addenbrookes’ or Peterborough City Hospital to ask them to book an appointment at one of the first clinics at the hospital sites.

You can choose to accept this appointment or wait until more clinics and locations are available in the community.

We will update you as this happens.

Please don’t contact the NHS or your GP Surgery to enquire about the vaccine before then. We hope to be able to provide a further update in the next few days.

Thank you for your patience.

Melanie Gearing, Practice Manager.

COVID-19 Vaccination Programme

Patients are asked not to contact the surgery regarding COVID-19 Vaccinations.

The NHS has started to vaccinate the most at-risk priority groups including over-80s and social care workers in local hospital hubs.

You may have received a text, letter or have been called by Addenbrookes’ or Peterborough City Hospital to ask you to book an appointment at one of the first clinics at the hospital sites. You can choose to accept this appointment or wait until more clinics and locations are available in the community.

Please be aware that the NHS will never ask for payment for the Covid-19 vaccination and any text message requesting payment should be ignored.

When more vaccines become available, the vaccines will be offered to other people at risk as soon as possible. Please don’t contact the NHS to seek a vaccine before then.

If you have not yet been approached about having the Covid-19 vaccine, please read the information: why you are being asked to wait. You can also find further information on the Covid-19 vaccine here.

Please continue to abide by all the social distancing, wearing of face masks and hand hygiene guidance, which will still save lives.

If you are self isolating and require assistance with shopping, collection of prescriptions or just a chat, please see details here of some local groups who can assist you during this time.

Further details can be found on Age UK Cambridge and Peterborough website https://www.ageuk.org.uk/cambridgeshireandpeterborough/about-us/news/articles/20182/covid-19—community-support-resource/ 

Brampton Community Support Network are able to offer assistance to residents of Brampton and Hinchingbrooke:

The Hunts Post has also collated a list of helplines for people in Huntingdonshire who may be isolated and need assistance: