A Fife MP has claimed a quarantine exemption scheme designed to allow individuals to travel abroad is in “complete disarray”.
North East Fife MP, Wendy Chamberlain, has made the claim after being inundated with cases of people having received a vaccine dose in both England and Scotland but still being denied international travel.
Mrs Chamberlain said the IT system responsible for transferring patient information regarding Covid-19 vaccinations across the four UK nations, and for sharing that data with the EU travel scheme, is still not working.
Student missed brother’s wedding
And despite highlighting the plight of three St Andrews University students in July, all are still experiencing problems.
Almost a month on and she’s still being denied a chance to visit friends and family abroad.
Meanwhile, another EU resident has reported that vaccines received in Scotland also did not show up on the QR code for the EU’s app, while those received under NHS England do.
Officials told them that the app requires a vaccine batch number, which is not provided to patients receiving their dose under NHS Scotland.
Cases still to be resolved
NHS England and NHS Scotland informed the MP that a procedure is now in place to share vaccine data across the four nations of the UK but to-date none of the cases raised by the MP have been resolved.
The MP also said Public Health Scotland are advising people experiencing this problem to contact the Covid-19 status helpline.
In some cases, however, helpline staff are claiming there is still no transfer of data and they cannot help.
Meanwhile, others are still awaiting a resolution despite being informed the case has been escalated.
Records couldn’t be found
Miss Calabrese said: “I cannot believe that I am still not able to travel to see my family and my boyfriend in Europe, given that I am fully vaccinated and most restrictions have been lifted for people in my situation.
“I tried to contact NHS England again, but they told me they could not find my record on their system because I am not registered with a GP in England and referred me to NHS Scotland.
“When I phoned NHS Scotland, the person said that I should solve my problem exclusively through NHS England because NHS Scotland only deals with Scottish vaccines.
“I don’t want to keep missing out on life events just because of a bureaucratic problem that has apparently no solution.”
‘Complete disarray’
Ms Chamberlain said the quarantine exemption scheme is still in “complete disarray”.
She added: “The system has created needless confusion for thousands of people wishing to travel and visit loved ones on the continent.
“In addition, our governments and health care systems across the four nations of the UK appear to be working completely separately.
“There’s no coordination or clear guidance for people who have received jags under different services.
“I have contacted NHS Scotland, NHS England, the Scottish Health Secretary, Public Health Scotland and the national vaccine helpline about this matter.
“And each one has told me something completely different while at the same time failing to offer any solutions for people currently trapped by this bungled scheme.”
Responding to the MP’s claims, a Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Work to align vaccination records from England and Scotland and to install a process for sharing data was completed on August 10.
“Hopefully these cases can now be resolved.”