3 Valleys Health Vaccination Site Volunteers
Information for all sessions
For more information about 3 Valleys Health Primary Care Network download the following PDF
Volunteers at the vaccination site are there primarily to ensure that the flow of patients into and out of the clinical area is calm and efficient.
We meet up to 650 patients a day and this is a significant milestone for everyone. Patients are nervous but delighted to at last be called for their vaccination.
We have provided a consistent level of support that is hugely appreciated by the patients and the clinical teams. Each day that the site is open we operate 3 sessions (shifts):
7.30am - 11.30am
11.30am - 2.30pm
2.30pm - 6.30pm
This includes time to set up for the day or hand over to the next team so please arrive on time.
Below are a few rules that we ask everyone to adhere to at all times and the tasks that we are covering at the site. You can book your session online against these tasks.
For your safety:
All volunteers must be free of Covid symptoms with no-one in their household self-isolating or shielding. Cancel your session if things have changed unexpectedly - please let Denise know on 07973 148699 if this is short notice.
Volunteers work outdoors at all times. Clinical staff receive regular Covid tests, volunteers do not. You can use the toilets located in the Somer Centre.
Always wear a mask - medical grade mask are available in the lobby on arrival or in the PPE store (public toilets)
At all times, please wear Hi Vis jackets of your own or the waistcoats that are provided in the lobby.
For your Comfort:
Make sure you are prepared for all weather conditions and have footwear that will be comfortable for the whole shift.
You must take breaks of course, liaising with your team members.
Bring with you drinks, snacks or whatever you need to keep your energy levels up.
For everyone:
Please start your session in your assigned Task. As a team, you may swap around for a break. Please support each other in understanding when “time-out” is needed and also when someone is more comfortable in a particular task.
There are wheelchairs available for carers to use. These must be returned to the front of the building, sanitised using the wipes provided and a green “I’m Clean” sticker added to them. (Patients with mobility issues, without a carer can be offered a wheelchair and pushed if it is clear they will be unable to go through the centre without assistance - In these circumstances, you will pass them on to the clinical team, please remember to go around the back of the building to take them back to their vehicle).
Enjoy your volunteering time! We have met some lovely people who are so pleased to be there.
If , at short notice, you are unable to cover your shift please call Philip on 07392 700765
To cancel your shift so we can offer the space to someone else, please log into Team Kinetic and “leave” the session you have booked. Thank you.
The following tasks need to be covered by volunteers, one per task per session plus a short notice reserve.
Lobby Lead- liaising with reception.
This role is key to the steady flow of incoming patients. Typically, but not always, appointments start on each hour – usually booked at 10 minute intervals for 40 minutes. Then there is an infection control break for a clean down in clinical areas. Patients are kept outside during these breaks.
You will also have an opportunity to clean the table in the lobby and restock the hand sanitisers.
Signs have been placed outside with Covid related questions. Please make sure they have read these before you pass them on to the receptionists. Only one patients, or two people who are together, at a time in reception. Carers can accompany.
Door to main clinical area
Once patients have been booked in, they proceed to the clinical area for their vaccination. There are 5 stations set up with someone monitoring the safe flow of patients at all times at all stages. That person will let you know if they have more capacity or they need to slow things down.
The key elements of Lobby Lead are:
Ensure patients are wearing a mask or visor (these are available if needed)
Check the patient has read the covid questions and none apply to them
Ask the patient (and carer ) to sanitise their hands
Ask the patient to:
move forward to the first yellow line
wait until called forward by reception
Patient Flow into lobby.
This task is determined by the vaccine being used.
All Vaccination Types
Welcome patients, ask them to read the Covid symptom questions – if these apply to them they cannot proceed and must return home.
Ask day and time of their appointment.
If they are more that 20 minutes early, they may be advised to wait in their car.
Think of appointments as falling within a 1 hour slot. Anyone arriving for the next hour slot will have to wait. (eg: arriving at 9.30 for a 10.10 appointments)
Carers may accompany patients. The process takes about 20 -25 minutes (including observation.)
Ask people to hold back before entering to minimise numbers in and approaching the reception area.
Wheelchairs are available for carers to use.
Oxford/ AstraZeneca Days
You will be at the front of the building helping with patient flow toward the lobby liaising with the volunteer in the lobby.
Queues do form during the break indoors but quickly dissipate when the clinic restarts.
Patients must still wait for 15 minutes after their jab, but that can be in their own car.
We do not have to monitor this but be aware that if anyone is unwell, ask them to stay in their car and inform a medic indoors.
Pfizer Days
Patients are required to sit for 15 minutes after their jab in the observations area supervised by a medic.
Your role is to stay at the back of the building, directing patients from the main hall into the marquee or to side hall as directed by the clinical staff
N.B. Patients who ignore this advice do so at their own risk
Car Park Lead and Car Flow
People do arrive very early and we only have 50 spaces in the car park. Alternative parking is back down the road at the Leisure Centre.
Key elements of Car Park Lead:
Direct drivers to pull over and wind down their window, Stand back when speaking to them.
Check their appointment is on that day and at what time
If very early (more than 30 mins) ask them to come back 5 minutes before appointment time (an alternative carpark is at the Leisure Centre – drive through the Car Park, out via the exit)
If the weather is really bad, suggest patients wait in the car until 2 minutes before their appointment.
If we have 4 volunteers on duty, this task can work well with 2 people.
Never place yourself at physical risk on the approach road and watch each other's back.
General Notes for all shifts:
Please keep everyone calm, be friendly and reassure patients.
Patients have been given a specific time slot for their vaccination but you do not need to place people in the queue in the correct time order, just keep them flowing.
Everyone with an appointment on that day will be vaccinated.
If patients arrive late please reassure them they will be seen but may have to wait until after the infection control break. Reception will inform your colleague in the Lobby if they are still waiting for someone.
Please do not attempt to answer any medical questions - all will be answered inside by the medical teams.
Queues will form during clinic breaks but quickly move on once the doors re-open. We have noticed that as soon as a few people are queuing, people in their cars waiting get anxious and join them.
Reassure people that once the doors re-open, the line will move quite quickly. They can read the Covid Questions whilst they wait.
Please note that we are getting an increasing number of people without appointments who try to negotiate their way into the building to get vaccinated. Explain to them that we do not make the rules and if they feel they have special circumstances, they should talk to their GP surgery. If anyone refuses to leave the queue, please warn the Lobby Lead that someone in the queue is being insistent. That person might need to be told by someone from the clinical team, albeit the same reason you have already given.
Inside the large hall there are 5 stations set up, each with an injector and someone dealing with patients records. This photo is taken from a point diagonally opposite the entrance. Patients are directed to a station and wait by the red tape barriers. The whole process takes less that 10 minutes. The aim is to get 60 patients through per hour; 650 a day is not unusual.
Other questions you may be asked:
My friend has come with me, can they be vaccinated too? No. Everyone must be pre-booked and have been called by their GP or received a letter inviting them to book online.
Do I really have to wait in my car? Yes. You have been advised to do that and leaving may put you at unnecessary risk.
When will I get my second jab? At the moment the NHS are arranging for second dose injections to be 12 weeks from today. You will be contacted by the surgery to book that appointment and you will have return to the Somer Centre for that jab.
I’ve driven quite a distance and need the toilet. Can I go inside? If at all possible, ask them to wait until they are due to go in for their appointment. Toilets are just inside reception to the left. If a driver is not having a vaccination, allow them to pop inside when there is a safe break in the queue. Let the receptionist know the person is desperate for the toilet.
I have difficulty walking, is it far? Please explain that they will have to walk into reception, through main hall and return via the rear of the building. They can be offered a wheelchair but if they are on their own, you will have to wheel them into reception for someone else to take them through the rest of the vaccination process. If this is done, a volunteer will have to collect them from the rear of the building approx 15 minutes later.
Managing and Booking Your Sessions on the TeamKinetic Website
You can view and manage the sessions you have booked on your profile page of the teamkinetic website: https://wern.teamkinetic.co.uk/vk/volunteers/my_profile.htm
Please login to your profile and click on the Home icon (A little house on the left hand menu for mobile phones or in the top menu on a pc) You can view and manage the sessions you have booked from your profile. This is the best place to see the overall picture of what you have booked.
You can view the upcoming sessions we need help with on the events page:
https://wern.teamkinetic.co.uk/vk/volunteers/events.htm
(The events will stay in view, but the time slots will disappear as they get booked up)
Finally, please do not use the downloadable mobile App, this seems to be only in a test stage and does not keep an accurate record of bookings or changes you make. Please manage the bookings on a mobile phone by using a mobile phone web browser and visiting the teamkinetic website.
