Published on: 14 June 2022
A team of specialist vaccination staff at Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust have been recognised for providing a bespoke Covid vaccination service for people with severe mental illness, learning disabilities or autism, by being named as a regional winner at the 2022 NHS Parliamentary Awards.
The Specialist Vaccination Team, who were nominated by local MPs, stood out among hundreds of other applicants and won the Covid Response Award for the Midlands – and, as a result, the team have also secured a place at the national NHS Parliamentary Awards ceremony in July, where they will be on the shortlist for the national Covid Response Award.
The team helped individuals who were struggling to overcome anxiety about getting vaccinated, or about visiting a large, busy vaccination centre, by meeting with them in advance and then tailoring the vaccination appointments to their needs.
Longer appointment times were offered in quiet locations with sensory activities, soft music and minimal staff presence; vaccinators would wear non-uniform clothes and nurses who knew the patients well would attend where possible.
Some vaccinations were also given in people’s homes or on hospital wards. The team helped to reduce inequalities in Derbyshire in three key areas of the COVID vaccination programme – engagement, availability and accessibility.
The vaccination programme was delivered as a joint effort by the Trust’s nurses and Health Protection Unit team, and also involved partnership working with NHS Derby and Derbyshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and other organisations within Joined Up Care Derbyshire.
The team’s nomination was supported by Amanda Solloway the Conservative MP for Derby North, Toby Perkins the Labour MP for Chesterfield and Margaret Beckett the Labour MP for Derby South.
After receiving the regional award, Ifti Majid, Chief Executive at Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We’re really grateful to the three Derby and Derbyshire MPs who nominated our specialist vaccination service for this important award.
"The COVID-19 vaccination programme has been a crucial part of the NHS's work since 2020 and, as a Trust, we felt it was vital that we played our part - working with our Joined Up Care Derbyshire partners to ensure that vulnerable people, and people who were struggling to visit large vaccination centres, could get vaccinated.
“The Specialist Vaccination Team should feel extremely proud of what they have achieved in support of this incredible national initiative.”
The Parliamentary Awards celebrates outstanding contribution to the health and care sector, providing an opportunity for organisations to engage with their local MPs to share their hard work and build relationships.
Catherine Martin, Health Protection Unit Clinical Lead, commented on the win and said: “This was a complete team effort with all areas involved from estates, domestics, IT, pharmacy, communications and the redeployed staff who have returned to their original roles.
“The programme was performed well with easily accessible resources to vaccinate individuals across the city and county, where no other vaccination service had succeeded.
“That’s what Team Derbyshire Healthcare is all about – coming together and working collectively for our service users to reap the benefits.”
The Specialist Vaccination Team are now in the running to become national winners, set to be announced 6 July at the event in London.
