Shropshire hospitals to run 24-hour flu ‘jabathon’
Healthcare workers will be taking part in a 24-hour flu ‘jabathon’ at Shropshire’s two main hospitals.
Hundreds of staff are expected to be vaccinated during the event, which will start at 9.30am on Wednesday and run until 9.30am on Thursday, at both Princess Royal Hospital in Telford and Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.
The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH), which runs the hospitals, launched its flu campaign at the beginning of October with a music theme – Don’t Let Flu Become The No.1 Hit This Winter – and the hashtag #WeWillRockFlu.
As part of the campaign, teams of peer vaccinators – nicknamed Flu DJs (designated jabbers) – have been immunising their colleagues at static flu clinics and during walkabouts for those staff who are unable to leave their work areas.
So far nearly half of all frontline healthcare staff that work across the trust have had their jabs.
Now a team of flu DJs, led by Karla Jennings-Preece, infection prevention & control specialist nurse at SaTH, will be working through the day and night to ensure as many staff as possible can have their jab.
Karla, who has organised the jabathon, said: “So far around 49 per cent of our frontline staff have been vaccinated, which is fantastic. We are hoping that we can smash that number next week by offering our staff the opportunity to have their jab at both hospital sites over a 24-hour period.
“Our teams of jabbers will be available before and after shifts, during breaks – and those who are on a day off can pop in and have their jab at their convenience.
“It is so important that our staff are vaccinated against the flu – not just to protect our patients – but also to protect themselves and their families too.
“We think this is a really great way to be really accessible and ensure that as many staff as possible can have their jabs.”
Dr Arne Rose, medical director at SaTH, said: “Our DJs are doing a fantastic job vaccinating their colleagues, and this is a really fun and engaging way of spreading the message to have the flu jab – and also making sure that as many staff as possible can access their free flu jab.”
Staff who receive their jab are also being gifted a £3 voucher to spend in the trust’s Caffé Bistro coffee shops as a thank you.
