St James Medical Practice, King's Lynn is one of the seven GP practices across Norfolk and Waveney to start vaccinating patients against Covid-19.
The following seven sites will be acting as 'primary care hubs', vaccinating patients from their own practice as well as other neighbouring practices:
- St James Medical Practice, King's Lynn
- Fakenham Medical Practice, Fakenham
- Falkland Surgery, Bradwell
- Lionwood Medical Practice, Norwich
- Swanton Morley Surgery, Swanton Morley
- Thetford Healthy Living Centre, Thetford
- Kirkley Mill Surgery, Lowestoft
St. James will be delivering the vaccine from 8 am today with more sites set to go live in the coming days and weeks.
Those who are most at risk from Covid-19 are being prioritised first: members of the public who are over 80 years-old, care home workers, and a small number of at-risk frontline NHS staff. The NHS advice is please do not contact your GP Practice to request a COVID-19 vaccine. You will be contacted when it's your turn to be vaccinated.
GP practices work closely together with neighbouring practices in local groups called Primary Care Networks (PCNs). Each PCN will have a designated vaccine site, providing a good geographical spread of vaccination locations across Norfolk and Waveney. Each of these sites will vaccinate patients from across a number of PCN's member practices - not just those on their own surgery list. People in the 'at risk' priority groups will be contacted to make an appointment no matter which practice they are registered with.
The local NHS is now working with PCNs to mobilise additional large and small community sites over the coming weeks and months.
Kathy Foley, Practice Manager at St James Medical Practice said, "Everyone is fantastically excited to be able to begin vaccinating. It's taken an effort like none of us have ever experienced and it's only been possible because of the collective energy of colleagues within our Primary Care Network - that means all the clinical and administrative staff across King's Lynn as well as our volunteers, supported by the Norfolk and Waveney CCG. We are all set up and ready to vaccinate people effectively and safely. It's incredibly exciting knowing that we will be one of the first GP practices in the country to provide the Covid vaccine. It's also incredibly special and poignant that we will be vaccinating 93-year-old Enid Bright. She was our receptionist here at St James for more than 25 years and is very much known and loved by the practice staff and our patients."
The Covid-19 vaccination programme has been planned extensively by the NHS so it can be rolled out as quickly and safely as possible. This programme of vaccination is the largest in the history of the NHS.
