Solent (Hampshire & IoW) COVID Vaccination Administration Team

Nomination

Award Category:

Admin & Clerical

Individual or Team Nomination?

Team

Qualifying Qualities

In these challenging times, nominators were asked to show how the nominee had demonstrated the following qualities:

Exceptional work ethic - going above and beyond their job description, especially in the past 12 months.
Outstanding achievement/s in work or outside of the organisation where relevant.
Drive for innovation and proactive leadership in these challenging times.
High level of interpersonal skills, such as kindness, empathy, loyalty and thoughtfulness to staff and patients.
A resilience considering Covid to their role and to the health and wellbeing of their colleagues.

Nominators Answer

Nominee's story :

Undoubtedly a huge challenge faced by NHS colleagues has been the delivery of the Covid vaccination programme. On the 2 December 2020 Solent NHS Trust was tasked with delivering four large scale vaccination hubs across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. A team of four inexperienced but incredibly diligent young adults were recruited into Solent at the beginning of January and immediately set about creating a booking process that enabled the Trust to mobilise its vaccination capacity in a rapid and agile way. Appointments started on the 10 January, requiring the team to develop and deliver a complete in-house booking system; a robust technical solution, including email links and clinic booking forms, was delivered in 10 days. The system enabled the health system to manage the vaccine supply and county wide demand, ensuring no vaccine was wasted. Between the 10 January and the 1 April over 40,000 appointments were booked for health and social care colleagues and volunteers from the Local Resilience Force. As a new, nationally led process was rolled out, this small team adapted to changing parameters, including patient cohorts and delivery dates for 2nd dose appointments, all of which required them to respond at speed. In doing so, they managed thousands of phone calls and emails, responding with kindness and respect to service users who were themselves under intense pressure. Where complaints were received, the team responded with compassion, recognising that they often came from a place of worry and fear. Where individuals required additional support, such as needing appointments arranged during Chemotherapy sessions, the team ensured the best outcomes possible. During the early days, when little was known about how Covid was affecting BAME colleagues, the team reached out to offer support and advice, supporting specific communications and information events. Despite the numerous changes made in the process, the team took it in their stride and worked 7 days a week to support Solent’s 4 vaccination hubs in enabling health and social care colleagues to access vaccinations ahead of the national booking system. It is impossible to impart the tension and urgency felt by all during this time and how the vaccination programme was essential in ensuring the health and social care system kept functioning at such a pressurised time. It is not extreme to say that without this very small team of gifted, dedicated and tenacious colleagues, the health and care system for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight may have had a very different vaccination journey, resulting in a terrible knock on effect for the wider community. As it stands, by going over and above what anyone could have expected, they have achieved a huge feat and gained the admiration of al who have engaged with them or worked with them. In doing so they have truly demonstrated the HEART values of Solent NHS Trust and we are incredibly proud of them. We truly believe they deserve to be recognised for being the backbone and the unsung heroes of our vaccination efforts.