Coronavirus in Scotland: Quarter of vaccine appointments missed at Edinburgh's Royal Highland Centre over weekend

The Lowland Hall vaccination centre opened on Monday, May 17, and is the largest vaccination centre in the Capital. The venue has the capacity to vaccinate more than 30,000 people per week.

Officials have confirmed 25 per cent of all appointments booked at the centre on May 22 and 23 were missed, although a reason was not provided.

Vaccination sites across the whole of the Lothians over the weekend saw a no-show rate of 13.43 per cent.

The figures come as the vaccination programme was preparing to enter its busiest phase yet, with people aged 18-29 being invited this week to start applying for their vaccine appointments.

Pat Wynne, director of nursing for primary and community care at NHS Lothian said: “We know that vaccination is our best defence against Covid-19. Uptake rates across Lothian have been really encouraging and we continue to remind everyone that it is absolutely vital to keep their appointment when they are invited to attend.

“Appointments may be missed for a variety of reasons and dedicated work is ongoing to make sure the vaccination programme is inclusive to all and to encourage people to make sure they attend their appointments.

"Telephone calls are often made on the day or letters are sent to people who do not attend, urging them to make a new appointment as soon as possible.”

A quarter of vaccination scheduled appointments were missed at the Lowland Hall vaccination centre over the weekend. (Credit: Lisa Ferguson)

On Monday, hundreds of Edinburgh residents were left disgruntled after attending their appointments at the Lowland Hall centre only to find themselves queuing for hours.

One person arrived just before 2pm for an appointment scheduled for 1:59pm, and still hadn’t even made it to the registration desk at 3:45pm.

Others arrived and were told to expect waits of up to three hours.

Pat Wynne, NHS Lothian director of nursing for primary and community care.

The latest no-show figure in the Lothians comes after an investigation has been launched into reports that as many as half of all vaccination appointments booked to take place at the Hydro in Glasgow were missed at the weekend.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said that it recognised there were an “unusual amount of cancellations and non-attendances” and is encouraging everyone to attend their appointments.

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