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14
Dec 2021
Last Updated: 14/12/2021
Vaccination centre to open at Harrogate hospital
Health bosses have said today they plan to open a vaccination centre at the hospital this weekend as part of the drive to speed-up the booster programme. The hospital is reviewing whether to defer some treatments while staff are redeployed to administer vaccines.
Harrogate District Hospital.
A vaccination centre is set to open at Harrogate District Hospital this weekend as part of the ramping up of covid booster vaccines.
Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust confirmed today that it hopes the site will open on Saturday.
It will provide another booster option for over-18s, who can currently receive jabs at the GP-run Great Yorkshire Showground in Harrogate and Ripon Races or one of several pharmacy sites in the district.
Dr Matt Shepherd, deputy chief operating officer at Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, said:
“The trust is responding as quickly as possible to the national ask to rapidly expand and support the covid-19 booster programme.
“We are currently establishing a vaccination centre for the public at Harrogate District Hospital where we can provide them with covid-19 booster vaccinations.
"The centre is aiming to be open from Saturday, December 18, and members of the public can book their vaccination via the national booking service.”
Read more:
- Meet the showground heroes boosting Harrogate’s vaccine programme
- Walk-in boosters at Great Yorkshire Showground extended to Christmas Eve
- First suspected omicron cases found in Harrogate district
Following the announcement of the speed-up in the booster programme, Health Secretary Sajid Javid told the House of Commons that some non-urgent and elective surgery “may be postponed until the new year”.
The Stray Ferret asked Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust whether any non-urgent appointments would be delayed as part of the booster vaccine programme.
In response, Dr Shepherd said:
“We are also reviewing our services to see what treatment we could potentially defer for a few weeks to provide more staff to the community vaccination programme.
“Currently we are not considering delays to surgery, urgent or cancer work. We will of course keep any disruption as minimal as possible and will contact any patients as soon as we can if their care is going to be deferred in any way.”
'Tidal wave of Omicron'
News that the hospital will provide vaccines follows Prime Minister Boris Johnson announcement on Monday that every adult in Britain will be offered a booster jab by the end of December, as he warned there was a “tidal wave of Omicron coming”.
As part of the effort, the showground site has extended walk-in booster jabs until Christmas Eve.
The showground site, which is run by Yorkshire Health Network, a federation of the 17 GP practices in the Harrogate district, is also offering walk-in clinics for 12 to 18-year-olds from 2pm to 4pm tomorrow and 2pm to 4pm on Monday next week.
So far, 74,680 booster vaccines have been given in the Harrogate district, according to government figures.
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