Get yourself jabbed at walk-in and pop-up clinics, urges nursing chief

Since I last talked about the emergence of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 in my column we have discovered that it is spreading quickly through our society and a range of measures to tackle the threat have been announced by the Government.

Anyone over the age of 18 years who is eligible can now receive a booster vaccine as long as their appointment is at least three months from their second dose.

Measures are now being put in place for people to be able to have their boosters as quickly as possible and research has shown that having your booster, if you have already had your two vaccination doses, prevents around 75 per cent of people getting symptoms.

It is also estimated that Omricon will become the dominant strain of Covid-19 in our region by the end of this week.

Having both your vaccination and booster jab is still the best way to protect yourself and your friends and family, both from contracting the virus and, if you should get it, from serious illness.

I would urge everyone again to take advantage of the walk-in and pop-up clinics available across the county. More details of clinics can be found at stwics.org.uk

If you haven’t yet had any doses of the vaccine, please don’t be concerned about coming forward now – all that matters is that you get yourself protected.

This is also a timely reminder of the need for face coverings and social distancing and also working from home if possible to keep us all safe and protect the most vulnerable.

Here at SaTH, we are gearing up to join our partners in this new phase of the fight to stop the spread of Covid-19 and help protect our NHS. This comes at a time when we are facing unprecedented levels of demand across the health and social care system and we can all play our part to help meet these challenges – so please get your jabs, take sensible precautions, and consider carefully the choices you make when you require medical assistance. Thank you.

We’re doing all we can to tackle the issues we’re currently facing, one of the most acute of which is capacity in our hospitals. With this in mind, I am pleased to say the Trust has been successful in its bid for £7.1 million to create a new 32-bed modular ward at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.

The prefabricated units which make up the ward can be put up quickly. They arrived on site this week and the much-needed extra beds should be available from Spring 2022.

We are always thankful too for the donations made by charities to the Trust and in particular The League of Friends (LoF) which cares for and supports our patients. The LoF of the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital has recently provided £34,000 for two life-saving scanners to be used by the Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA) Screening Team.

A simple ultrasound test is performed to detect AAAs, which are most common in men aged 65 and over. The new portable ultrasound scanners have already been used for the initial scans of 1,223 men and nine of those have been found to have AAAs. It has also been used for follow-up scans on those men who continue to have the growth rate monitored.

It is so positive that this service is provided by our Trust and the National Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Screening Team (NAAASP) and that we have been helped once again by the generosity of the LoF.