‘We’re trainednews to deal with vaccine myths’

NURSE URGES PARENTS TO PROTECT BABIES FROM ILLNESSES

A GP practice nurse is encouraging parents to get vital vaccines like the MMR jab – and said they’re essential to protect children from potentially lethal illnesses.

Sue Harkness, who works at the St Anthony’s Health Centre in Walker, carries out vaccination clinics regularly and said that with colleagues the focus was on making the vaccination process as convenient and comfortable as possible.

She said: “We encourage everybody to come for childhood vaccinations when the babies are around eight weeks old, when we try and tie in with their eight-week check with the GP. Hopefully that reduces the amount of times a family will have to come to the surgery.”

She said an “awful lot” of work goes on behind the scenes to ensure that as many youngsters as possible were protected – but she added that anyone who has not had the key childhood jabs should feel able to come forward, no matter the age.

Speaking as part of an NHS England push to raise awareness of the wider team behind the scenes at your local GP surgery, she added: “There’s a big MMR campaign going on at the moment because we know that measles is on the rise in different parts of the country.

“As part of that prevention program, we are trying to encourage our families – who perhaps for whatever reason have either not been able to come or and chosen not to come for their vaccines – to come in and dispel any myths that they may have about the vaccines themselves.”

In the North East, Newcastle has the lowest rate of children to have received the vaccinations they need before their

Walker practice nurse Sue Harkness first birthday. Asked about how she goes about dispelling myths and fears, Sue said: “Everybody’s different. And everybody has their own views and they are entitled to those views on childhood vaccinations.

“But it is the best way of protecting these young children against nasty infectious diseases.

“We’re trained to deal with myths and try and reassure parents that what they’re doing, which may seem a little bit upsetting to see their children crying, is the right thing.

“The evidence tells us that vaccinating your children against these diseases is imperative. Especially as the world gets smaller and we travel a lot more.”

Sue said she always encouraged parents to be honest with their children about what would be happening when they went to get a vaccine, and said it was important to show children that it was part of a normal process and part of growing up.

As a lead practice nurse, Sue also runs a range of clinics – including one supporting those with chronic diseases.

In videos produced showing “a day in the life of a GP practice” last year, she spoke of how her job was essentially providing care “from ears to smears” – and across someone’s life. Find out more about how your general practice team can help you by visiting nhs.uk/gpservices

There’s a big MMR campaign going on... we know measles is on the rise in different parts of the country