COVID Update 30 - Vaccinations COVID-19 Update 30VaccinationsIntroduction I’d like to start 2021 with my first COVID-19 update being good news for our staff. I'd also like to include a couple of practical updates on vaccination and how we’re going to work for the next few months We are now seeing the COVID-19 vaccination programme move at pace and on Sunday 3rd January more than 210 staff from Combined attended Stafford County Showground for a mass vaccination event. We estimate that this brings the number of Combined staff vaccinated to around 500 in total, which is excellent progress in such a short period of time. My sincere thanks go out to all those who made it happen on Sunday, including a small army of admin staff who, on the New Year Bank Holiday, dropped everything to contact and schedule over 210 staff at 48 hours’ notice of vaccine availability. This demonstrates how all our staff continue to step up and go above and beyond at a time of need. If you haven’t yet been vaccinated, or been called to be vaccinated, please don’t worry. We expect significantly more vaccine to be available shortly. In the early part of this week, we will be consolidating our information on staff who remain outstanding and will be preparing for the next cohort(s) of staff. We will be asking line managers to help us collate this information. Please note you may be contacted by telephone and offered a vaccine at very short notice – this is purely due to availability and the timescale in which the vaccine must be used once it is made up. This is logistically challenging to organise, so please be as flexible as you can when you are contacted. As you will also no doubt be aware, rates of COVID-19 have been increasing again nationally. Our message that you must work from home where possible will continue to stand – as previously advised – until at least the end of March 2021. Please note that this message about working from home does not change if you have had your first dose of vaccine. The guidance we have issued on the use of PPE and on social distancing also remains, even if you have had your first dose of the vaccine. These pieces of guidance are not changing as not all our staff and service users have been vaccinated, nor do we yet know the full extent to which the vaccine stops transmission of the virus. 2021 has started with good news for all of us working at Combined Healthcare and a positive start to the year is just what we needed. We’ll work hard so that this continues for our Trust over the coming months. With best wishes, Jonathan |