IT’S all hands on deck at Saintfield Health Centre as the Covid-19 vaccination programme is extended to include adults with underlying medical conditions and their careers.
Local GPs are facing their biggest medical challenge to date with the push to vaccinate as many people against the potentially deadly virus as the supply of vaccine allows – while at the same time continuing to see patients if needed after telephone consultations.
The Ballynahinch Road practice is just one of the many GP surgeries that is vaccinating with the Astra Zeneca vaccine while Trust vaccination centres are using the Pfizer vaccine.
The entire team, completed with reception and admin staff, manned its first weekend vaccination clinic on Saturday where around 380 people got their first jab.
Dr David Ross revealed he estimates the take-up of people willing to be vaccinated was as high as 95%.
“We only stopped at 3pm as we had run out of the vaccine. We can only administer what we get, we would have liked to have done more,” he said.
“The uptake has been excellent, it’s not quite universal but it’s pretty close. Most people can’t wait to get it. I reckon the uptake from our invites is around 95%.”
He described the process much like a supply and demand situation – as soon as the practice knows what quantity of vaccine it will be receiving, it triggers a call-out to a section of the 9,600 patients it serves.
“As quickly as we get the vaccine, we organise the clinics and get the patients in. We operate a one-way system for patients to go through the building for their vaccinations to ensure social distancing. We will do injections outside for patients in cars who would find it difficult to come into the building,” he said.
Dr Ross that most of the centre’s vaccinations have been done during weekday afternoons and that a team of 10, including the doctors, nurses and the pharmacist and physiotherapist - both trained to do the vaccinations - are working to do as many patients as possible.
He said that the centre was up to date with its vaccination schedule and would match the demands that the Department of Health placed on it as further groups of patients would be invited to come forward for the vaccine.
For those who don’t want to come forward, Dr Ross said that they try to inform as much as possible.
“We give the facts. We give an opinion as best we can but there’s just some people decide they don’t want to have it as they don’t like vaccinations. I think for those who said no in the early stages, now they see the vast majority of people don’t have any problems getting it, then they may change their minds.”
He added that he was encouraged that there was a higher take-up for the covid vaccine than the annual flu jab.
Dr Ross, whose wife Dr Sheila Gunn, is also a partner in the practice, talked about the change in how GPs worked throughout the pandemic over the last year.
“I’ve never worked as hard in my life before,” he admitted. “We closed our doors to people walking in, but we never closed our doors to seeing people. Nor did we ever stop seeing people at home.
“We did two things over the space of 10 days. Everything moved to a telephone consultation first and we saw people face to face where that contact would make a different to what we did with them and anyone coming in for a blood test or whatever, we had to keep them socially distanced in the waiting room.
“When the Covid centres opened we used this for anyone we felt we needed to see, who may have had Covid or other symptoms and we couldn’t bring into the clinic. That allowed for us to prevent a lot of people ending up in casualty.”
For senior nurse Martina Cullen, who has been at the practice for the last 28 years, this year has been unlike any other.
“Never have I experienced any like this,” said Martina, who’s from Downpatrick.
“We could vaccinate more people if we could get more vaccine and it would make life a lot easier. We could probably vaccinate 600-700 patients a day.
“The majority of people are absolutely delighted they have been offered the vaccine. It does our hearts good to know that we have helping to bring down Covid cases and protecting our community.”
Central to the vaccination process has been practice manager Caitriona Duggan. The Saintfield woman, who now lives in Castlewellan with her family, hit the ground running when she joined the practice last June.
“It’s been such an overwhelming time to start my first job as a practice manager, but it’s been really good. It’s been long hours and long days but we are beginning to see the reward,” said Caitriona.
“It has been challenging to go to providing more of a telephone triage but we have managed to ensure that people who need to be seen have been. My main role is the management of the day to day running of the practice but I also manage the organisation of the vaccination programme with my team.”
She thanked the South Eastern Trust for allowing the practice the use of extra rooms to facilitate the one-way system used for vaccinations.
“We are able to use a socially distanced queuing system to ensure a safe flow of patients throughout the building and prevent any unnecessary risk.”
The young mother said she was very fortunate to have the support and dedication of the practice staff.
“From the GPs to the reception staff, and our domestic staff, have all been brilliant. As soon as we said we would be running Saturday clinics, it was a case of all hands on deck. We have a brilliant team.”