Long vaccine queues 'should never happen again'
- Published
Opposition parties have criticised a technology issue which left people waiting in the "freezing cold" for their vaccination appointments.
At some centres in Fife on Monday there were longer than expected queues.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon apologised for computer software problems which the health board said caused "significant" overbooking of appointments.
Both the Lib Dems and Greens said the issue should not have happened.
The leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, Willie Rennie, said he received "huge numbers" of complaints.
He said many were left waiting in the freezing cold for up to four hours when their appointments should have lasted a couple of minutes.
Mr Rennie told the BBC Scotland's Coronavirus Update programme: "I'm pleased that the first minister's apologised for this but we need to make sure that this does not happen again."
Scottish Green MSP Ross Greer said NHS Fife had experienced "very similar problems" administering flu vaccinations last year.
And, according Scottish Labour MSP Alex Rowley, an elderly woman was believed to have collapsed due to suspected hypothermia while queuing in the cold in Lochgelly.
'Sincere apologies'
Asked about the issue during her daily Covid briefing Ms Sturgeon said: "I'm really sorry about what happened in Fife, (NHS) Fife are really sorry - it shouldn't happen."
Ms Sturgeon said she understood patients would feel "annoyed", but urged people to "just bear in mind how hard health boards are working right now to get this programme delivered as quickly as possible".
Later on Tuesday, NHS Fife issued a statement, external explaining the issue was caused by "significantly greater numbers" of appointments being made through the national scheduling tool than it had "capacity to manage".
It said: "Those individuals who understandably could not wait in these queues are in the process of being rebooked into clinics as soon as we can safely do so."
The health board said it had increased staffing at venues and expanded clinics.
A number of appointments for Thursday through to Monday are being rescheduled - NHS Fife said people affected would receive update letters on Wednesday.
'Entirely unacceptable'
NHS Fife's chief executive Carol Potter described the queues faced by mostly elderly patients as "entirely unacceptable".
She said: "We are determined that we will maintain the pace of the programme to ensure that our older people and those considered clinically vulnerable in Fife are vaccinated as quickly as possible.
"Again, I would like to offer a sincere thank you to the people in Fife for their continued understanding, not only this week but for many months as we have asked them to stick to public health measures.
"I also want to thank our staff for their incredible efforts. Whether it is our vaccination teams going the extra mile this week to ensure that the programme remains on our course, or our staff taking cups of tea and biscuits to those waiting in queues - there are countless examples across our wards and departments of staff going above and beyond to provide the best care possible to patients and they continue to be a credit to us."