NHS tells Scotland woman with stage-4 Breast Cancer: 'Technical glitch, wait for 1 week'
For Lesley Stephen, a 55-year-old Scotland woman, who has been suffering from stage-4 breast cancer, it was just a nightmare when she called NHS officials.
- World News
- 3 min read
For Lesley Stephen, a 55-year-old Scotland woman, who has been suffering from stage-4 breast cancer, it was just a nightmare when the officials from National Health Service (NHS) asked her to call after a week to get the COVID-19 booster jab due to some technical glitch. According to a report by Daily Record, the woman has stage four cancer and her immune system is compromised with her lungs under attack from cancer cells. According to Stephen, she has been regularly advised by her doctors to get the booster jab at the earliest as the disease has already weakened her immunity system.
However, when she called the NHS, the officials of the healthcare system told her to wait for a week to get the COVID-19 jab and flu jabs as the organisation has been facing a major technical issue. Notably, it is vital to take the third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine for those who have been suffering from fatal diseases including cancer and kidney infection. While speaking to Daily Record, she said that she had an appointment for the COVID vaccine last week. When she visited the clinic, Lesley said a large number of people gathered at the centre.
"I was shocked to hear NHS response"
Stephen told Record that despite having an appointment, she was told it would be a two-hour wait and it was absolute chaos. In the end, she was asked to visit the vaccination centre again. "The hall was crammed with people and I just thought I wasn't going to sit here for hours and I'd just rebook it which I thought would be easy. This week I decided to try and rebook and on Wednesday I tried to book online but I couldn't get past the NHS Inform page, Record quoted Lesley Stephen as saying. "I phoned up and got through to someone who was very nice and who said 'I'm very sorry but our systems are down and can you phone back in a week, the 55-year-old added. I was shocked to hear that it would take a week to fix this system when the country is facing the biggest crisis.
Even a Twitter post couldn't help Stephen
Lesley Stephen also took to Twitter and slammed the Cabinet Secretary for Health & Social Care for the bizarre response from NHS. ''Being a good citizen and immune-compromised with stage 4 cancer, tried to book my booster &flu jabs. Told to phone back in a week as major IT problems -not in a day but in a week! No booster service at drop-in clinics. @HumzaYousaf what a shambles- get it fixed.@HMcArdleHT,'' her Twitter post read. However, her appeal to the minister did not help in getting the vaccine. It is to note that booster doses or the third dose are administered to the inoculated population to boost clinical protection and reverse the effect of fading immunity. COVID-19 booster doses are offered once an individual has completed primary vaccination of two doses. As directed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), it is mandatory for an individual opting for a booster dose to get all three jabs of the same type.