Professor Mike Holmes, who coordinates York's Covid vaccination programme, reveals in today's column for The Press that new pop-up jabs clinics are being launched across the city to make sure as many people as possible get their autumn booster and flu jabs. 

 

"To make sure everyone has had the chance to get their Flu and Autumn Covid booster vaccinations we will be holding a number of pop up vaccination clinics across the City.

Our first ones start this week at Monks Cross shopping centre. You will find our team there every day Monday to Friday from 8.30am for the next few weeks.

This is a great opportunity to have your jabs if you’ve not been able to get one to date.

Our teams will be setting up pop up clinics in a number of city centre locations as our Autumn Covid booster programme comes to a close.

The Covid vaccination programme has been reviewed nationally and the decision has been taken to stand down three national vaccination centres based in Scunthorpe, York and Hull with effect from the 16 December 2022.

We will, of course, continue to support our local vaccination service here in York, working with the 11 GP practices who make up Nimbuscare to offer a ‘business as usual’ vaccination service.

Currently there is no national guidance around future booster programmes, however we may receive further guidance in December about future plans.

We’re proud to have delivered more than 650,000 Covid vaccionations as part of the local and national vaccination service and this success has been recognised nationally.

Of course we will remain at Askham Bar as we await the outcome of our planning application which sees us deliver healthcare for the community.

New services continue to be developed and we’re pleased to launch a new Frailty Assessment Service at our Acomb Garth Community Centre.

This is a vital service which aims to prevent a number of problems which are linked to clinical frailty. It is a collaborative service involving clinicians from York and Scarborough Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, York Central GP Practices, York Integrated Care Team and York Community Voluntary Services.

The idea is to try to catch people before they deteriorate, helping address problems early and helping them live well in their own homes as they age. This service is about addressing any mental, social, physical health and memory problems early.

It will help prevent falls and other problems associated with frailty. In doing so we aim to prevent hospital admissions and keep people healthy and safe at home for as long as possible.

A special clinic will run at our Acomb Community Care Centre each Wednesday morning and patients will be referred there by health and care professionals.

The Children’s Treatment Clinic at Askham Bar is expanding and from 1 December will be open five days a week, helping babies and children from three months old to 12 years old with respiratory issues.

This is a valuable service run jointly with the hospital trust.

Around 130 patients have been seen and treated by the service since the end of September this year when it re-commenced and 95% of these were able to be sent home, following assessment and treatment.

The service has significantly helped parents and carers to manage their child’s condition by reassuring them and supporting them and we are pleased to say only a very small number of the children we see go into hospital.

Children come to the clinics with a variety of respiratory issues but the common diagnosis is upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) and acute bronchiolitis. 

The feedback from the services is really good with one patient recently saying:'This is a valuable service! My baby was examined, I got very clear instructions on what I should pay attention to. Thanks so much!'

The hospital continues to see high levels of respiratory attendances within the Emergency Department, particularly in children under five, so this is why opening up this community service five days a week is so important."