The Trust, which runs three hospitals in the region as well as outpatient services at various community sites, is on a mission throughout October and November to vaccinate all colleagues directly involved in patient care and treatment against both COVID-19 and flu.
Since beginning in late September with the COVID-19 booster, the organisation’s team of vaccinators have worked tirelessly in order to give medics and clinicians easy access to the jab, which takes the form of the Moderna bivalent vaccine – an updated version of the COVID-19 vaccine that targets both the original strain of the disease as well as the Omicron variant.
Vaccination against flu will begin on Monday 10 October, and will be available to colleagues via clinics at both Doncaster Royal Infirmary and Bassetlaw Hospital.
No stranger to tackling widescale vaccination programmes, DBTH has been amongst the first acute NHS providers to vaccinate 75 per cent of front-line staff against flu for the past number of years, whilst uptake for the COVID-19 vaccine, which has been undertaken in three phases and now enters its fourth, has been above 90% since its introduction in late 2020.
Zoe Lintin, Chief People Officer at DBTH, said: “Ensuring colleagues protect themselves against both COVID-19 and flu is extremely important. Team DBTH have been working hard in their fight against COVID-19 throughout the past two years, and we expect rates to rise once again as we head into the colder months. Twinned with intelligence from the Southern Hemisphere which suggests we are in for a particularly bad flu season this year, this winter will be challenging and as such we need to ensure we support colleagues in protecting themselves, those they work with, and their friends, family and loved ones.”
Throughout the rest of October and November, the Trust will continue to vaccinate its workforce to further reduce the risk of infection within hospital. This follows other precautionary measures such as masking in all clinical areas as well as free testing for those colleagues who suspect they may have COVID-19.
Zoe continues: “While things are better than they were just 12 months ago, we still need our communities’ support. Please, unless you need urgent care and treatment, do not come to the Trust to see relatives and friends in hospital if you have flu and cold symptoms such as fever, chills, headache, cough, body aches and fatigue – in addition to COVID-19 symptoms.”
A full list of visiting restrictions can be viewed here: https://www.dbth.nhs.uk/coronavirus-need-know/
