A DUNFERMLINE man has slammed the "ludicrous" decision to offer his disabled wife a second dose of the coronavirus vaccine at a clinic in Methil.

Jim Philp, 69, of Clunie Road, said that they had received their first COVID jabs at Dunfermline East Church and assumed they would return there for the next appointment.

He told the Press: "When we got the letters for the second jab, they had us both down for Methil. We couldn't believe it.

"I phoned and said this can't be right but they said Dunfermline was all booked up.

"It's ludicrous. My wife is 70 and suffers from MS. Patricia's registered disabled, she's got arthritis too and can barely get in and out of the car.

"She can't manage half an hour without needing the toilet.

"If they expect folk like us to make a 50-mile round trip, they're not wired up right."

He phoned later that day hoping to get someone different and a different answer but no joy.

Jim said: "It was really getting stupid. What if you don't drive? How the hell would you get through there?

"It would be like a bus tour to get to Methil, it'd take all day. They say you can get taxis but that wouldn't be cheap.

"Whoever's organising these appointments has obviously never looked at a map and doesn't have a clue where Dunfermline and Methil are."

Jim has raised health service concerns before, launching a petition in 2014 that was signed by 35,000 people asking for the return of the A&E department to Queen Margaret Hospital.

He was unsuccessful then but this time, after he kept calling, he did at least manage to get two cancellations for Dunfermline.

Jim said: "Even then, we couldn't get the appointments at the same time; one's in the afternoon and the other's in the evening.

"I can leave Tia in the house but not for long and what if I took an adverse reaction when I was away getting my vaccine?

"It's just silly and it was the same with the first jab.

"We were supposed to get them at different times but as I was standing at her wheelchair and waiting for half an hour anyway, they just gave me the jab then too.

"They should get people in charge that know how to organise."

NHS Fife said that vaccination appointments are booked by a national scheduling system, operated by NHS National Services Scotland, and in Fife almost 288,000 jabs have been administered and more than 90,000 people have received both doses.

Director of pharmacy and medicines, Scott Garden, said they had established a large network of vaccination clinics in Fife and added: "While there can be up to a 12-week gap between first and second doses, a slight improvement in vaccine supply over recent weeks has allowed us to make a small number of additional appointments available on the national scheduling system to enable some of those awaiting second doses to be seen sooner.

“We want to ensure that all eligible people in Fife, and particularly those in our more ‘at risk’ groups, receive both jabs as quickly as possible.

"The earlier appointments we have made available may not be at the same venue as the first dose, and where these are unsuitable, people will still have the opportunity to receive their second dose at a venue local to them within 12 weeks of their first jab.”