This week we’re able to share the wonderful news that the Vaccination Centre at the Museum is now operational and delivering immunisation to the local community.
People in priority groups have begun to receive their vaccinations and the Museum is helping to support the NHS in its continued efforts to accelerate the vaccine roll out. The Museum centre has the capacity to serve around 1,000 patients per day and so will add a significant boost to the NHS’s ability to drive vaccination take-up in the area.
The NHS will contact people directly to notify them of their eligibility for the vaccine in order of the priority groups set out by the Government. The NHS are currently contacting people within the first four groups to attend a vaccination appointment, either at a centre like that at the Museum, or via their local GP practice (graphic below).
People must wait for their notification from the NHS and then book their appointment directly with the NHS vaccination service. The Museum is unable to make bookings, or respond to enquiries. Should you have friends and family who are asking about their vaccination, please encourage them to visit the Government website here for more information until they are contacted by the NHS.
The NHS team have also filmed a video of the Museum vaccination centre to help patients familiarise themselves with the process when they arrive for the vaccine. For Museum colleagues, the video below is not just useful information, but will also give you an idea of how part of the Museum has been transformed to host this important service:
For colleagues who need to be on-site at the Museum for essential work, and who may need to pass through the Rolfe Street entrance, please make sure you identify yourself as a member of staff to NHS stewards on the door. This will help the NHS team manage entrance and avoid any confusion with the flow of patients attending to receive a vaccine. Please remember that each Museum colleague will be invited to a vaccination appointment in line with the priority list above (either at a local vaccination centre, or GP). BCLM staff do not qualify for prioritisation as a result of the Museum hosting the centre.
Colleagues interested in volunteering with the NHS to support the running of the centre can find details on how to apply here.
The Museum has received lots of positive press coverage as a result of hosting the vaccine centre. You can see some of the reporting here and hear Natasha Eden on BBC Radio WM talking about the centre on launch day via the audio file below:
Despite the positive news of the vaccination roll out, everyone remains affected by the pandemic. If you need someone to talk to, please refer to this intranet post which has links to resources available to BCLM colleagues.
Although the Museum may currently be closed to visitors, we are still able to support health and wellbeing of the local community. Thank you to all colleagues for making this possible now and over the coming months.
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