CONCERNS have been raised by a daughter of a patient in the South West Acute Hospital (SWAH) about the vaccination of patients in hospital.

Mary Maguire told this newspaper that her 93-year-old mother, Rita Maguire, has not been vaccinated in the SWAH despite having been on a ward for a number of months, with vaccinations being rolled out in Northern Ireland since December.

Mary’s anxieties have been heightened as there is now an active Covid-19 outbreak on the ward, with Mary very concerned for her mother’s health and well-being.

Rita has not been vaccinated in the SWAH, due to the Executive’s policy on the vaccinations' roll-out, which excludes hospital in-patients.

When asked by this newspaper what percentage of over-80s in the SWAH had been vaccinated, a Department of Health spokesperson said: “At present, eligible patients will be vaccinated by their GP after discharge from hospital, but plans are being developed which will allow Trusts to vaccinate eligible in-patients using the AstraZeneca vaccine.”

Mary, who is based in London, said: “It's scandalous that the Northern Ireland Government should be boasting about moving to the second phase of the vaccine, when someone in the highest-risk has been neglected.

"There are many elderly patients who have been in hospital a long time, waiting for care beds to become available, who cannot get to a vaccination centre. It would make sense to vaccinate them in hospital.

"It would also be much more efficient to vaccinate hospital staff in hospital.

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"Arlene Foster and Robin Swann should be challenged on what arrangements are being made for hospital staff to be vaccinated, and for the elderly and other patients with little mobility who cannot get to vaccination centres.

"It's no good boasting about the numbers vaccinated, if a whole group is left out of the programme.

“I am sure that the nursing staff would want to get as many jabs in arms as possible if they could,” she said.

Mary has not seen her mother in almost a year, due to the pandemic, and is anxious about her condition.

“My sister could go and visit her until recently. It’s a very difficult thing. My mother is waiting to go a care home, but I am anxious for her health.”

This news comes as it was revealed that backroom staff who are not classified as frontline workers had received their first dose of the vaccine.

Responding to queries on why such staff had been vaccinated, a Department of Health spokesperson said: “The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation advises that the first priorities for the current Covid-19 vaccination programme should be the prevention of Covid-19 mortality, and the protection of health and social care staff and systems.

“These systems include PPE distribution, transport, training, and inspection. Staff in these roles are crucial to enabling frontline staff to do their job.

"If the back office is down, the frontline can’t operate effectively.

"We would hope that no one would go down the route of negating the contribution of any of our staff.

"All our HSC staff are valued and make an essential contribution to the running of health and care systems.”