Royal Derby Hospital vaccination hub begins administering second doses
Patients and staff have this week begun to receive their second dose of Covid-19 vaccinations at Royal Derby Hospital.
The vaccination hub at Queen’s Hospital Burton is set to open its doors again later this month.
One of those receiving their second dose was Occupational Therapist, Aimee Egen, who said that it was a great feeling and praised the work of her colleagues:
“I’ve been really excited about this all morning! It’s very reassuring to know that a few weeks after this vaccination, I’ll be as protected as I can be as I have been working with Covid positive patients throughout the pandemic.
“Everyone here is so calm and very friendly. The hub is run so well and everything is very smooth and I think everyone’s done a fantastic job with it.”
One patient also commented that it was a “huge relief” to be receiving their second dose of the vaccine and that the team “are doing a brilliant job and should be really proud of themselves”.
Sarah Shaw, who is one of the vaccinators at the hub, said that there is a tangible positivity in the air as people arrive for their second doses:
“People are very enthused and we’ve had quite a few people getting really excited and that feeling hasn’t really gone away since we began administering the vaccine in December. You can sense the relief from people as this vaccine is potentially life saving, so it’s been a really good atmosphere.”
There have been some small additions to the hub since it was last open in February to further improve the process for staff and for patients.
Caitlin Richens, Vaccine Hub Programme Manager, said: “When we had delivered all of our cohort of first doses, we put both hubs at Derby and Burton into temporary hibernation. This gave us the chance to reflect and improve on our processes, so a lot of work has been going on to aid that.
“We have put in a lot of work regarding our information and data sharing processes as well as working on making the process even smoother for everyone, both staff and patients.
“We have a fantastic team of around 250 members of staff working in this hub alone, so we’ve also been working to make sure the team really gets to know who’s who so I would like to thank everyone for all of their hard work and dedication.”
As well as some operational tweaks, there have also been some changes in the waiting area of the hub. Inspirational quotes and drawings sent in from local primary schools cover the walls to add to the air of positivity, as well informational leaflets on mental health and art installations at the hospital, provided by our arts charity Air Arts.
Jo Beresford, who has been redeployed to the vaccine hub from her usual post as a Dementia Key Worker at London Road Community Hospital, said: “These drawings just lighten the place up that bit more and give people something nice to look at while they’re waiting. We’ve done the same and added some screens in the observation area to help keep people entertained during their time here.”