We will be closed on Friday 2nd April and Monday 5th April because of the Bank Holidays. The Surgery will therefore close at 6:30pm on Thursday 1st April and re-open at 8am on Tuesday 6th April.

For urgent care please call the GP Out-of-Hours Service on 111 (calls are free from landlines and mobiles). For advice you can call NHS Direct Wales on 0845 4647 or visit www.nhsdirect.wales.nhs.uk

We have now given 2400 first doses of the vaccine. As of next Friday (26th March 2021) we will be starting to call patients for their second dose of vaccine.

Limited vaccine supply means we will not be able to give any more first doses at present. The second dose of vaccine will be given within 12 weeks of the first. We will be contacting people for the second dose in the order in which they received their first dose from us.

Post edited and updated Tuesday 6th April

The Surgery has now attempted to reach everybody in the 18-64 age group with underlying health conditions (Eligibility for the vaccine) by phone. If you have not been contacted by us and feel you are in this group please ring the surgery before 3pm on Friday to make an appointment (and update your contact details if necessary).

Patients aged 18-64 with underlying health conditions

The Surgery is continuing to vaccinate patients aged 18-64 with underlying health conditions. Details of eligibility for this group (P6) can be found on the Public Health Wales web page: Eligibility for the vaccine. If you are in one of the clinical risk groups specified and have not been contacted by the surgery by 19th March then please contact us.

If you are a patient aged 65 or over and have missed your first vaccination please contact the surgery so that we can arrange an appointment for you.

Patients aged 50-64

The Community Vaccination Centres are currently vaccinating patients aged 60-64. They will then be vaccinating those aged 55-59, followed by those aged 50-54. Appointments will be sent by letter from the NHS. Our vaccination centre is currently the Cynon Valley Indoor Bowls Centre in Mountain Ash.

Unpaid Carers

An online self-referral form for unpaid carers is available on the NHS Wales website: Vaccine Appointments. If you meet the eligibility criteria you will be sent an appointment by letter within 3 weeks. Please note this is not arranged by the GP surgeries.

Further Information

For more information regarding the COVID-19 vaccination programme in Cwm Taf Morgannwg please go to their website: COVID-19 Vaccination Programme.

There is also a dedicated vaccination advice line to assist with enquiries, open 7 days a week – Monday-Friday 9am-5pm and Saturday/Sunday 9am-4:30pm. The number is 01685 726464.

We are currently vaccinating at risk patients, including those with a BMI of 40 or above.

If you think your BMI is in that category please contact the surgery with an up-to-date weight and we can arrange an appointment for you.

Foundry Town Clinic was happy to be able to vaccinate 230 patients aged 65+ or in the at risk categories on Saturday 13th February despite the poor weather. Thank you to all those patients who managed to keep their appointments, or came earlier by request.

Unfortunately, due to the snow, we were unable to complete our last few housebound vaccinations. These will be carried out over the next week/weekend.

We will be continuing with at risk patients aged 18-64 and any patient aged 65 or over during the weekend of 20th/21st February, depending on vaccine supply. There are a significant number of patients in this category so please wait for us to ring you.

If you, or any family members registered with the Surgery, are aged 69 and over and have not had a COVID vaccination, or do not have one booked, please telephone us – (01685) 875906/872006 – to let us know. We have appointments available on the afternoon of Thursday 11th February and all day Saturday 13th February at both Aberdare and Aberaman sites.

These appointments are also available for anybody aged 18 and over in possession of a shielding letter or who is classified as clinically extremely vulnerable.

If you, or any adult family members registered with the Surgery, are classified as clinically extremely vulnerable and have not had a COVID vaccination, or do not have one booked, please telephone us – (01685) 875906/872006 – to let us know. We have appointments available this weekend at both Aberdare and Aberaman sites.

In line with national guidance this includes:

• solid organ transplant recipients
• people with specific cancers:
  • people with cancer who are undergoing active chemotherapy
  • people with lung cancer who are undergoing radical radiotherapy
  • people with cancers of the blood or bone marrow such as leukaemia, lymphoma or myeloma who are at any stage of treatment
  • people having immunotherapy or other continuing antibody treatments for cancer
  • people having other targeted cancer treatments that can affect the immune system, such as protein kinase inhibitors or PARP inhibitors
  • people who have had bone marrow or stem cell transplants in the last 6 months or who are still taking immunosuppression drugs
• people with severe respiratory conditions including all cystic fibrosis, severe asthma and severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
• people with rare diseases that significantly increase the risk of infections (such as severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID), homozygous sickle cell disease)
• people on immunosuppression therapies sufficient to significantly increase risk of infection
• problems with your spleen, for example splenectomy (having your spleen removed)
• adults with Down’s syndrome
• adults on dialysis or with chronic kidney disease (stage 5)
• women who are pregnant with significant heart disease, congenital or acquired

People who are clinically extremely vulnerable will have received a letter earlier this year from Welsh Government with information about how to stay safe as all of Wales is in Coronavirus Alert Level 4. If you did not receive this letter, then you may have other underlying health conditions but not to the extent that makes you “clinically extremely vulnerable”. Other adults with underlying health conditions are in Priority Group 6 and will be invited in due course.

If you, or any family members registered with the Surgery, are aged 75 and over and have not been contacted by the Surgery please telephone us – (01685) 875906/872006 – to let us know. We have appointments available this weekend at both Aberdare and Aberaman sites.

Foundry Town Clinic was happy to be able to vaccinate 220 patients aged 75 and over on Saturday 30th January. We have also managed to vaccinate a significant number of our housebound patients over 80 and will continue with this next week.

Most of our patients over 80 have now had the vaccine. If you, or any family members registered with the Surgery, are over 80 (not housebound) and have not been vaccinated please telephone the Surgery to let us know. We may have incorrect contact details or you may have missed our initial calls.

We are hoping for a significant vaccine delivery next week enabling us to vaccinate on both Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th February. This should hopefully cover all those aged 75 and over.