December 21, 2020 4.30 pm This story is over 39 months old

Lincolnshire GPs vaccinate thousands of elderly against COVID-19

Priority for over 80s and the vulnerable
Janet Judson, 84, a retired nurse, was the first in Lincolnshire to get the COVID vaccine from lead nurse Leanne Belton in December 2020. | Photo: ULHT

Thousands of elderly and vulnerable people have been vaccinated against COVID-19 by GP services in Lincolnshire since the rollout of the jab.

A Louth Hospital volunteer said more than 900 vaccines have been given out across Sunday and Monday, meanwhile, Caythorpe and Ancaster Medical Practice said over 2,000 had also taken place in the south of the county altogether.

Lincolnshire is one of more than 100 parts of the country that are taking delivery of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, but NHS England refuse to specify how many vaccines were administered in our region so far, but Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday over 500,000 doses have been delivered nationally.

Andrew Berry is a volunteer at Louth Hospital and said over 500 elderly and vulnerable people were vaccinated against COVID-19 on Sunday and 400-plus more received the jab on Monday.

He added this vaccination service has been made possible by a Primary Care Network of 12 GP practices.

Louth Hospital. | Photo: ULHT

He said: “Everyone I spoke to yesterday was very positive, grateful and impressed at how well-organised it was.

“This is down to the staff, all of which had volunteered to work 10-plus hours on the Sunday, as well as the volunteers from Louth and Coningsby Lions to name but a few.”

Mr Berry added: “This was a very positive experience and made all involved feel like they were making a real difference in this difficult time.”

Caythorpe and Ancaster Medical Practice said on social media: “Our practice in collaboration with the 16 other local practices surrounding Grantham and Sleaford have together administered approximately 2,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine to patients shared equally by capitation amongst the patients of these practices.”

Of those 2,000, 150 were patients at Caythorpe and Ancaster Medical Practice.

Emmerdale star and Louth resident Patrick Mower has now had his COVID-19 vaccination. | Photo: Lincolnshire NHS

They added: “As a practice we are overjoyed to be involved in vaccinating patients across all local practices against this horrible virus.

“We have had amazing support from local volunteers who have given their time to assist patients with this process and have committed practice resources to ensure we are sharing this workload locally on a fair basis.”

Martin Fahy, Director of Nursing and Quality, NHS Lincolnshire CCG, said: “There are also logistical challenges but general practice has an excellent track record of delivering mass vaccination programmes, and we want to use this experience to help protect people from COVID-19 and start getting life back to normal again.”

Dr Dave Baker, GP and South West Lincolnshire Locality Lead, NHS Lincolnshire CCG, added: “This is a huge national effort to protect our patients against the virus and I would urge the public to come forward when they are called up for the vaccine.”

Patients will be contacted and invited for vaccination so do not need to enquire at their practice.