Woolwich Late Night Pharmacy Go Live as a Covid Vaccination Site
On Thursday morning (21st January) there was an air of anticipation at The Woolwich Late Night Pharmacy – as it embarked on it’s first day as an official NHS Covid Vaccination Site. Excited but nervous, the staff who have been tirelessly preparing for the last few weeks, opened their doors to their first patients.
After a few last minute issues with IT, the team made sure to have everything resolved for the morning. And when they checked their bookings on the new QFlow system, they saw that despite only going live the night before, they already had 70 bookings – proving just how needed this new covid vaccination site is.
Woolwich Late Night Pharmacy appointed two of their senior pharmacists as vaccinators and had their admin team, along with two dedicated volunteers running the rest of the clinic. This included ensuring that patients were socially distanced at all times, comfortable, and fully informed about the process and what comes next. As such everything went very smoothly and the first day was a huge success.
Jignesh Mehta, the superintendent pharmacist at Woolwich Late Night Pharmacy said of the day, “Being on the frontline and being able to contribute to the health of the nation is an honour. Our aim is to vaccinate as much of the public as possible, so that we can protect the elderly and vulnerable population from Covid19”. Sobha Sharma, the Senior Clinical Pharmacist Prescriber added, “I urge patients to book an appointment as soon as they are invited by the NHS or their GP to get their Covid 19 vaccine. Scientists have done rigorous research before approving the vaccine, and as such I received mine with no reservations. I had no side effects and I decided to take it as I wanted to protect my patients and family members who may be vulnerable to catching Covid 19.”
Rajen Kandel, Director of the pharmacy said, “I am very proud of my team and following the success of our first day, we have now scaled up our operations at the pharmacy, and have the capacity to administer 3000 vaccinations per week”. Patients were happy and grateful to receive the vaccine and praised the Pharmacy team for their effort and hard work during the pandemic.