First-rate care, First-rate people, First-rate value

Community nurses support GPs in roll out of Covid-19 vaccine to vulnerable housebound residents

Published on Tuesday 9 February 2021

First Community’s district nursing teams have been supporting the rollout of Covid-19 vaccinations to housebound residents in east Surrey.

So far more than 200 elderly, housebound people have received their vaccination since community nurses began assisting local GPs in carrying out the vaccinations at the end of January.

In partnership with the five Primary Care Networks (PCN) across East Surrey, our district nurses have been working tirelessly to ensure all vulnerable housebound, elderly residents in east Surrey, who are often at risk of being overlooked, receive the first dose of their Covid vaccination by the middle of February.

Targeting housebound patients that fall in to the first four priority groups as outlined by government, patients are being grouped by postcode and contacted directly to arrange a visit when it is their turn to be vaccinated.

Sarah Buxton, Service Manager for Community Services, said: “We are proud to be working collaboratively with our partners and supporting them with the roll out of the Covid Vaccination Programme. Administering the vaccine to some of east Surrey’s most vulnerable residents as quickly as possible will reduce their chance of suffering with Covid-19, whilst also helping to drive down infection rates locally.

“Ahead of the roll out all of our staff completed the additional Covid vaccination training required to enable a quick, effective and safe response once the vaccine became available. As a reminder to all patients, please do not worry if no-one has yet been in touch about your vaccination; you haven’t been forgotten and will be contacted directly when it is your turn.”