vaccination centre

In February 2021 I had the privilege of working alongside staff and volunteers at Peter House - the vaccination site for Westhoughton Primary Care Network. My documentary photography below shows a ‘day in the life’, and aims to raise the profile of the epic work that’s happening - both front of house and behind the scenes. Dr Beverley Matta (GP Partner, PCN Clinical Director for Westhougton) told me a little bit about what it’s been like:

“We started vaccinating our most vulnerable patients back on the 14th January. Before that even began came the mammoth task of how to go about organising such a huge programme. A massive amount of work goes on behind the scenes, reading guidance; organising stock; training staff; planning rotas; booking patients not to mention continuing to provide ‘normal’ general practice. The vaccination programme across the country has been delivered by ‘networks’ these are groups of GP practices working together. As clinical director for Westhoughton I am hugely proud of how Unsworth Group Practice and Stablefold Surgery have worked together to jointly deliver this programme. 

Behind the scenes our wonderful admin staff supported by our social prescribers and health improvement practitioners have ensured our most vulnerable patients get a vaccine appointment. This has been led by a management team who work tirelessly to get these clinics running smoothly. We have been incredibly fortunate to have some wonderful volunteers helping us. Some have been to every single clinic! They have manned the car park, directed patients and supported our staff to safely deliver our vaccines. We couldn’t run our clinics without them. 

On vaccine delivery day our clinicians work so hard consenting, preparing and vaccinating our patient population. My wonderful nursing team, supported by volunteer drivers have also been immunising our  housebound patients, sometimes in the snow! 

Despite the long hours (and weather conditions!) everyone loves being a part of these clinics because we can see a real light at the end of the tunnel. We feel hugely privileged to be a part of getting all our lives back to normal. Leading this programme in Westhoughton has really shown me what a fantastic team I work with and what a wonderful community we have. Thank you!”