21 January 2021
This briefing from NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire CCG is designed to keep you up to date with the roll-out of the Covid-19 vaccine in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire.
As you will all know, the programme is being delivered in a very comprehensive way: local authorities, the NHS and partners across the county are working as a system to deliver this huge project. The vaccine will be administered across three different types of site: Hospital Hubs, Local Vaccination Services and large Vaccination Centres.
Hospital Hubs: We have three sites, Queen’s Medical Centre, King’s Mill Hospital and Nottingham City Hospital.
Local Vaccination Services: As of this week, we now have six sites who are prioritising over 80s and health and care workers at the highest risk.
The sites are:
*A further site at the Forest Recreation Ground is on track to open this week.
Vaccination Centres: Nationally there are a number of large vaccination centres with our nearest being Millennium Point in Birmingham and The Princess Royal Sports Arena in Boston, Lincolnshire. These are unlikely to affect any of our residents due to distance however; we can confidentially tell you that we are expecting a vaccination centre to go live in our patch from next week.
All letters have now been sent out to over 80s across Nottingham and Nottinghamshire and we are prioritising their appointments to make sure they are vaccinated as quickly as possible. The NHS is proactively calling over 80s who have received their letter and not yet booked an appointment.
Anyone over 80 who has not received or misplaced their letter can book online HERE or by calling 0115 883 4640. The NHS has encouraged over 80s to use the online booking line if they are able to so that the phone number is available for those who are not able to use the online booking link.
To ensure that those in vulnerable groups or who are geographically or socially isolated can access community vaccination services as soon as possible, the vaccination programme has made provision for transport for those who meet eligibility criteria. This will be provided by volunteer drivers and taxis and those who need to use the service will be able to request this at the time of booking.
Two types of letters are being sent out to those who are eligible – one from the local NHS and one from the NHS Covid-19 Vaccination Booking Service.
The local letter – sent out by the CCG - will direct patients to Local Vaccination Services. In Nottingham and Nottinghamshire we now have six Local Vaccination Services offering vaccinations to the public alongside three Hospital Hubs.
The national letter – from the NHS Covid-19 Vaccination Booking Service - will give the public the option of having the vaccine at a large Vaccination Centre, or potentially a community pharmacy depending on whether these are available locally.
It is important to note that the public will only receive a letter from the NHS Covid-19 Vaccination Booking Service if they live within 30-45 minutes from one of these sites. Therefore, very few Nottinghamshire residents will receive one at this stage. It is also important to note that should a person receive a national letter, they can wait for their local letter if that is more convenient.
The Covid-19 vaccination programme in care homes is underway across the county and city. Care homes are being vaccinated by the roving team and so will not receive a letter. We anticipate that all care home residents and staff will be vaccinated by the end of the month. All care homes have been contacted to inform them that the roving service will be vaccinating their residents and staff. Over the weekend GPs from a number of practices will be supporting this collaborative work in a final push to vaccinate and protect our most vulnerable as quickly as possible.
The NHS will be in touch with people who are housebound over the next two weeks about arranging a Covid-19 vaccination. Our dedicated ‘roving team’ will be working with teams already supporting housebound residents to coordinate delivering the vaccinations. The roving team is making good progress and is on track to vaccinate all residents in the top four JCVI cohorts by mid-February.
From tomorrow (21st January) and weekly thereafter, the data released centrally by the NHS on vaccinations will include data at a Nottingham and Nottinghamshire level. This means that from tomorrow you will be able to see the number of vaccinations administered to our population including the detail of the over 80s vaccination rate.
It is important we all share the same message to the public to help the smooth running of this complex programme. We understand the public are keen to see themselves and their relatives vaccinated as soon as possible and that this is a worrying time.
We would like to reassure you that all of our modelling indicates that, as long as we continue to receive supply of the vaccine, we are on track to deliver the vaccines to the top four cohorts in line with the Prime Minister’s deadline of mid-February. These cohorts include older care home residents and staff, everyone over 70, all frontline NHS and care staff and all those who are clinically extremely vulnerable. In Nottingham and Nottinghamshire, we aim to have all over 80s vaccinated by the end of January subject to vaccine supply.
Please share the following key messages:
Finally, it is important to note that this is a phased roll-out of the vaccine and it will take many weeks for all of the eligible groups to be vaccinated. We want to remind the public not to contact the NHS, their GP or local hospital hub – the letter they receive will have full details of how to make an appointment.
You can find all the latest information regarding the programme HERE.
Thank you very much for your support and cooperation throughout what is a very fast-paced and complex programme.
John Brewin, Chief Executive, Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (Joint Senior Responsible Officer for Covid-19 Vaccine)
Tracy Taylor, Chief Executive, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (Joint Senior Responsible Officer for Covid-19 Vaccine)
Amanda Sullivan, Accountable Officer, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Clinical Commissioning Group
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