Guildford’s G Live Venue Opens As A Covid-19 Vaccination Centre

Published on: 12 Jan, 2021
Updated on: 12 Jan, 2021

G Live is being to vaccinate people against Covid-19 Picture by John Schluter

By Martin Giles

Vaccinations against Covid-19 have started to be administered at Guildford’s G Live entertainment venue today (Tuesday, January 12).

There was no advance communication about the vaccination programme in Guildford by the NHS Clinical Commission Group, Surrey Heartlands, responsible for its organisation, but today a press release has been issued by Guildford Borough Council.

G Live, at the top of the Upper High Street, is being used as a GP-led local vaccination service as part of the government’s Coronavirus (Covid-19) vaccination programme.

GP practices are working together in clusters of practices (known as primary care networks) to provide vaccination services for their patients from local community settings (rather than individual surgeries), which means they are able to provide more space and easier access for larger numbers of people.

The vaccinations at G Live are part of the GP primary care network’s phase to immunise vulnerable groups. In March it hopes to vaccinate more than 8,500 people per week as part of the UK’s mass vaccination programme.

With the council’s press release, the NHS Surrey Heartlands Clinical Commissioning Group said: “The G Live site will complement the other vaccination hubs already in operation across the Surrey Heartlands area. This additional location will enable local GP networks to vaccinate more people, at scale, by using a larger venue. We are asking people to help the local NHS.

“Please don’t contact your GP practices, the wider NHS or any of the community venues that hosting clinics to seek a vaccine – we will contact you.

“When we do contact you, please attend your booked appointments (unless you are unwell).

“And please continue to follow all the rules to control the virus and save lives.”

Residents will be contacted directly by their GP for their appointments. If you are attending G Live for your vaccination enter by the side door (to the right of the main front doors) by the Bellerby Studio.

Ahead of today’s ‘official’ announcement that G Live is a vaccination centre, the venue was named at the end of last week in appeals for volunteers to apply to be marshals to “oversee the patient flow management across the site”.

Following a leaflet issued by the CCG on the need for volunteers, details were repeated on social media, including two tweets, subsequently deleted, from local Lib Dem politicians Cllr Angela Goodwin and Zoe Franklin, its parliamentary candidate at the previous election. But there was no official confirmation.

On Monday, January 11, we asked Surrey Heartlands Clinical Commissioning Group:

1. Has G Live now been confirmed as a vaccination centre?

2. What will its role be?

3. How will its role fit in with services at GP surgeries and the Royal Surrey County Hospital, are these to be used too?

4. Will residents in Guildford Borough be sent to other vaccination centres? Will patients be directed to the closest centre or the centre with available capacity?

5. What will happen to housebound patients or those without access to cars?

6. What will the role of Superdrug be within the programme?

7. What is being done to prevent the vaccine being sold on the black market?

8. Is it expected that everyone over the age of 70 will be vaccinated in Guildford and Surrey to meet the government’s target [mid-February].

At the time of publication, no response had been received.

It is also understood that the Superdrug store in Guildford High Street and some other pharmacists are to start giving Covid-19 vaccinations.

Pam Shepperd told The Dragon: “I was very excited to get a letter today (January 11) with details of the website to make an appointment for my vaccination. And the nearest place is Superdrug in the High Street.

“But I have to book for the second appointment at the same time and there are no second appointments available at either Superdrug or at Epsom racecourse. I can’t book the first appointment by itself: it’s first and second or nothing.

“Really disappointed. I can try again tomorrow but there is no suggestion anything will have changed. So what do I do now? Hopefully, wait for my GP to set something up?

Responses to Guildford’s G Live Venue Opens As A Covid-19 Vaccination Centre

Graham Potter Reply

January 12, 2021 at 3:39 pm

I also booked after getting the letter on the 11th and easily booked the second appointment in April at Superdrug. I am going to Superdrug for the first jab on January 14 so will check that the second jab is actually there.

The website is a little annoying as it does not store your record as you are entering it. It only gets your choice of dates and times when you press “submit” at the end. By that time, all the others who have got their letter can get into the site and use your choice of time. So when you get to the end and “submit”, the answer is “Sorry your choice is not now available – start again.” This happened twice before I finally registered.
Michael Sinclair Reply

January 13, 2021 at 1:27 pm

Where there is low take-up of vaccinations in any risk group, rather than fail to use all available vaccines, will the system be adjusted to the air carrier model ie to fill empty seats and keep the programme going at speed?