Inside a Covid-19 vaccination hub in Wigan

At the entrance you are given hand sanitiser and asked a number of health questions to ensure no-one who has Covid-19 or any of its most common symptoms gets into the building.

A strict one-way system then takes you into the hall which was formerly used for everything from badminton and basketball to Wigan’s annual beer festival.

Currently, though, it has been transformed into a mass vaccination centre, with a reception, two waiting areas and rows of pods where the jabs are administered, and then an observation area where people are monitored for 15 minutes to make sure they do not suffer any adverse side effects.

The whole operation looks extremely efficient, and with everyone masked and the chairs individually spaced for social distancing, it is quiet.

The centre is being staffed by a mixture of employees from Wigan Council, Inspiring Healthy Lifestyles and NHS Wigan Borough Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and staff from GP practices.

Local GP and CCG chair Dr Tim Dalton can be seen among the rows of professionals in the cubicles giving out the jabs.

The team are putting in marathon shifts, with the Robin Park centre open for appointments 11 hours a day and 14 pods in use when we went.

Partly this is through necessity. On the day Wigan Today visited the Pfizer jab was being administered, which has to be used within three and a half days once it is defrosted to normal fridge temperature from the minus 80 it is originally kept at.

With 1,100 people a day coming through the doors that means the teams can get through the batches of 975 which arrive in Wigan.

Speaking to the staff it is clear there is a real sense of pride in being involved in the vaccination programme.

They also told how grateful many of the over-80s currently being vaccinated are.

Lead practice nurse for Wigan, Sarah Madden, said: “I think it has been lovely. We’re normally working in GP practices on our own so there has been a real camaraderie here.

“I’ve had people in tears, they have been really emotional. They have been really emotional because they can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

“Every doctor and every nurse here is willing to work extra. People have been coming in off their holidays.”

Her fellow practice nurse Rachel Smith said: “It’s a real privilege to be doing this. People have been so appreciative coming through.

“It has been amazing, a massive team effort. We want to get everybody vaccinated and back to some sort of normality.”

However, the roll-out of the vaccine has not been without controversy, with concerns about the process and particularly how and where older people are receiving jabs.

The nurses stressed that people should wait for their GPs to contact them, saying surgeries were fielding large numbers of calls.

They were also keen to set the record straight on a few other issues and negative points which have been raised.

Sarah said: “We understand that people want the vaccine but there is a process. We’re trying to do this as quickly and safely as we can.

“You will be contacted by your GP and you don’t have to go to one of the big hubs. If you are able to go to those then that’s absolutely fine, but don’t feel like you have to.

“People here are not guinea pigs, these vaccines have been trialled. We are happy to go through all the data with them and they can ask us any questions  when they come here.”

Rachel added: “There are so many conspiracy theories out there and it is so frustrating. People need to listen to medical staff.

“There have also been a lot of negative comments about general practice, with people thinking we are sitting there not seeing patients. A lot of it is being done remotely but if people need to see someone face-to-face they will be seen.”

The CCG said that since it began vaccinating at Robin Park in mid-December it has not had one person at the venue become ill or have a reaction while they are being observed after their jab.

Appointments are scheduled for eight minutes, which allows for questions to be asked and for the dose itself to be given.

In a room off the main hall five CCG medicines management staff are mixing the doses. Five doses arrive per vial and these have to be carefully measured.

Some of the vials have been overfilled and thanks to changes in guidance the team can now create an extra dose per vial when there is enough for them to do that.

The CCG says it is getting roughly 1,100 doses out of each set due to this.

Everything patients touch in the vaccination centre also has to be cleaned, as do the chairs in the observation area between each person using them.

Wiganers who had just had their jabs were full of praise for the set-up when the Wigan Observer spoke to them.

Bertha Priestley, 91, had been brought for her vaccination by her son Wayne.

He said: “It was an excellent experience, really well organised and very helpful. For my mother there was a bit of apprehension beforehand, but it took all the worry out of it.

“I heard someone say in there it was like winning the Lottery.

“The people here are tremendous, working under these conditions.”

Roy Fisher, 82, from Whelley, said: “It was absolutely marvellous. I didn’t think it would be as well organised as it was.

“It was so easy. I feel very happy. The more people get it done the quicker it is going to go. It wasn't that different to having a flu jab,

“It’s a credit to everyone involved.”

The operation was also praised by a retired senior Wigan church man.

Canon Pat MacNally, a former parish priest from Winstanley, said: “I went down to Robin Park on Friday for my Covid-19 vaccine and I would like it to be put on record my grateful thanks for the professionalism and kindness of the medical staff there. It is an ideally spacious venue and everything was run like clockwork.

“So many people have spoken to me about similarly positive impressions of the vaccine programme there.”

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