THE vaccine hub at Basingstoke hospital is not offering walk-in appointments today (January 1). 

A message on the hospital website states: “We are currently receiving a high volume of calls with requests to book Covid-19 booster appointments. Our Basingstoke hospital vaccination centre is open for bookings only.”

As reported on Wednesday, the trust which runs Basingstoke hospital decided to open the vaccine hub for walk-in jabs after around a quarter of appointments were not attended by those who had booked.

The booster hub was opened the previous week to aid the national acceleration of the vaccine roll-out, allowing Basingstoke residents and others from nearby areas to access an appointment for a Covid-19 booster jab.

However, thousands of appointments across Hampshire were not attended, and health leaders urged people to cancel unwanted slots to free them up for others to book.

A spokesperson for Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (HHFT) told the Gazette that because of the missed appointments, the booster hub at Basingstoke hospital would operate a walk-in service.

This ran up until yesterday. It is only available for pre-booked appointments today.

Information on the local Clinical Commissioning Group’s website states that walk-ins at Basingstoke hospital will be back open again tomorrow (January 2) from 9am to 4pm, and at the same times throughout next week.

Walk-ins will also be available at Jameson House, in Lychpit, from Tuesday, January 4 9am to 1pm, and 2pm to 5pm. This will continue until Saturday, January 8.

HHFT advises those wanting to book a booster vaccine to call 119 or visit the national booking site here.