Great to see excellent vaccine teams at work
Iwas privileged to visit Pulborough Medical Group this week and to witness their excellent team work as they worked through their second batch of the Pfizer vaccine and deliver it safely into the arms of local residents. The boxes of the precious vaccine which will help us all get back to normal are surprisingly diminutive. Each one contains 975 doses which have to be stored and handled carefully in a much more complex process than perhaps we remember from the school nurse or our winter flu jab.
Things should improve as the Oxford Vaccine – which initially had to be delivered only in a hospital setting – becomes available in GP Surgeries over time.
National data is now available daily but at the time of writing an encouraging 2.3million have been vaccinated including 40 per cent of the most vulnerable over-80s.
I have spent a lot of this week working with local GPs and Sussex NHS on the latest status and supplies of vaccine. Almost all have either started vaccinations or are about to in the next few days.
Where there are exceptions to this – such as Petworth at the time of writing – this is clearly not a desirable situation and, whilst we must be clear that GP Practices are independent businesses, I am raising this at every level of the healthcare system on behalf of constituents. Whatever
latest information I have is available immediately on my website www. andrewgriffithmp.com
On Tuesday, I had the honour of leading a debate in Parliament to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the South Downs National Park – the newest National Park in Britain.
Arundel and South Downs constituency contains a large swathe of the park – from Pyecombe and Keymer all the way north west up to Selham and Graffham. As such it impacts on all local residents and is a big part of the rural economy. Like every ten-year-old, the park authority does not get every single thing perfect but it is right to celebrate its many positive impacts including a remarkable spirit of innovation and community. We wish them a successful second decade and hope that they survive, thrive and become even more successful in achieving their important goals.