Delays and huge queues again at Edinburgh biggest vaccination centre
People were forced to wait for up to three hours to receive their Covid jab as one of Edinburgh’s biggest vaccination centres was again hit by huge queues on Monday.
Queues were reported “right back to the car park” at the Royal Highland Centre in a repeat of the delays reported at the venue last month.
One person said they arrived yesterday for their appointment scheduled for 11:40am only to discover a huge line winding right back into the venue’s car park.
They were seen an hour and a half after their original appointment time. The person said that staff members were seen handing out bottles of water to patients as they waited in several queues.
Some other patients reported being stuck in queues for betweentwoandthreehours.
Edinburgh’s biggest Covid-19 vaccination centre opened on May 17 at the Lowland Hall and has the capacity to deliver 30,000 vaccines per week.
In response to concerns raised on social media about the waiting time for appointments, a spokesman for the centre said extra staff had been called to assist with the number of patients and those who weren’t able to wait in the lengthy queues for their jag were offered alternative slots at drop-in clinics.
The centre also confirmed staff were handing out water and fast tracking vulnerable patients and those with children who were waiting in the queues.
This isn’t the first time large queues at the Royal Highland Centre have resulted in frustration and significant delays.
On May 24 – after being open just one week – hundreds of people were left queuing for up to three hours, with “poor planning and management” from NHS Lothian blamed for the bottleneck.
One couple, with a newborn baby who required regular feeding, were refused priority after arriving – instead being told they would likely have to wait at least three hours for their jabs.
Others stuck in the line described the scenes outside the vaccination centre as “pandemonium”.