Very poor options and experience
The 119 call centre only gave my 78 year old mother two options for her vaccination, to either travel from her Mid Suffolk village near the Norfolk border to Norwich or Attleborough. Both long distances and further than my 80 year old father had been offered in Debenham, which was still a 30 min drive from their home. I called 119 to see if I could arrange an alternative appointment either at Debenham or another Suffolk location and was told I would have to cancel my mother's existing booking in order for the call handler to look on the system to see what other dates and locations were possible. My mother did not want to risk a long wait, so decided to continue with her appointment in Norwich yesterday (a 45 minute drive from their home). My 80 year old father drove them to Norwich, they waited in their car until a couple of minutes before the appointment time and then went into the Castle Mall shopping centre. The first wait was in the food hall, along with a large number of other people, they stood in line for nearly 90 mins before my mum was sent upstairs to provide her details and finally have a chance to sit down. About another 30 minutes later she had her vaccination. There was a support staff person in the food hall, but at no point did they suggest some people return to wait in their cars rather than all standing together in the food hall. He also falsely said it would only take 15 mins once they went upstairs. I'm quite angry that my elderly parents had to travel that far; that they had to stand for such a long time and that they had to wait with a large number of other people prior to the vaccination. On all of these counts it feels completely inappropriate. They have been so careful for the last year and then they were put in such a risky position yesterday. Plus the added effort that they had to go through which is fine for younger people but not appropriate for those who are elderly.