Care home first to vaccinate all staff and residents
CARE home staff are leading the way in the fight against coronavirus with one home becoming the first to have all staff and patients vaccinated. Staff at Fairways Care Home were among thousands of care sector staff to have their vaccination at the Open Door and Quayside Medical Practice which is vaccinating around 55 people per day.
They are among the many thousands who are in the priority groups who are first to have the vaccine aiming to protect the most vulnerable.
Stacey Keetley, team leader at the care home on Little Coates Road, said: “”We are doing our bit for the whole community of Grimsby and it is a game changer for all our staff and residents. We are very lucky to have done it first. It is heading in the right direction for everyone.”
All the residents at Fairways, which is a 52-bed facility were visited by nurses who administered the vaccine.
Over the past few days the 70 staff have also had the The Pfizer/BioNTech jab at Open Door and Quayside Medical Practice on Albion Street, Grimsby.
Dozens of other care homes are nearing completion of the rollout to make residents and staff safe from the killer virus and prevent further pressure on hospitals.
Stacey added: “All the residents were set up here and we all went to
Open Door. We are doing our bit for Grimsby. All the residents are looking forward to seeing their families again.
“It is getting on for nearly a year but soon families will be able to come in and sit with them. It has been difficult for some of them being surrounded by staff in full PPE.” She said the staff at the Quayside and Open Door practice had done a “fantastic job getting everyone vaccinated in a smooth and fluid way.” Executive director of operations and chief nurse for Care Plus Group, Lisa Revell said: “The rollout has gone brilliantly and we are now getting almost all the care home residents and care home staff vaccinated and now looking to those who are housebound and their carers.
“We are trying to get it out as quickly as we can get it. We only get short notice when a new batch is coming in and the staff here are working long hours to deliver it.”
GP practices in North East Lincolnshire have sadly had to tell some of those who received their first jab before Christmas that their second dose has been delayed.
Some were only told the night before their appointment has been cancelled.
The cancellations were to ensure all over-80s in the borough, health and social care staff and frontline health staff all got their first vaccine. North East Lincolnshire is rapidly approaching 80 per cent of that critical group being vaccinated.
The chief nurse added: “The pub
lic and staff who have visited us at the surgery have been very amenable which is a reflection of how desperate this is needed. We get a lot of praise from the patients and staff. It is running very smoothly and people feel safe in the surgery which has a warm atmosphere.”
The new Oxford vaccine, which is far easier to store in fridges than the Pfizer jabs, has arrived in North East Lincolnshire and is due to be administered in the coming days at Open Door.
Lisa said a small number of people had received their second dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech jab, as they were among the first to receive the vaccine before Christmas and were due to have their second dose early in the new year.