On Friday, 23 April, 2021, Michael Gove, MP for Surrey Heath, visited Lakeside Vaccination Centre to praise the success of the local Covid-19 vaccination programme.
Run by Surrey Heath Primary Care Network (PCN), the site has delivered over 55,000 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine. This has been delivered using a combination of vaccine types. On a Pfizer day, the site is capable of delivering 500-600 doses, and with Astra Zeneca around 1,300 doses a day.
Initially, staffing was provided by the seven surrounding practices with support from other partners in local pharmacies, CCG staff and volunteers. As the vaccine quantity increased, the PCN team worked to develop a bank of returning and additional workforce. There are now over 200 staff on the bank team, which allows practices to continue to support the vaccine program with no impact on general practice operations.
Mr Gove, after receiving many letters from the community praising the vaccination centre, visited to give his personal thanks to all the staff and volunteers at Lakeside.
In a video he posted on social media following his visit, Mr Gove said: “Here in Surrey Heath thanks to our primary care network - that’s our GPs, nurses and those who work with them, but also an amazing array of people who have volunteered, we’ve been able to get thousands of jabs into thousands of arms. And as a result, people are safer, we’re beating this virus, and together, we can overcome Covid-19.”
