Plans to vaccinate the most vulnerable in Purbeck against coronavirus are well underway at Wareham Hospital, as it’s announced that the first clinic will be from Thursday 14th to Saturday 16th January 2021.
This good news comes as the number of people in hospital in Dorset has dramatically risen, alongside a jump in the number of cases across both the Dorset Council area and the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council area.
There are now 272 Covid-19 patients in hospital beds in Dorset. This compares to 135 patients only four days ago. With the increase in patients at the Dorset County Hospital, Poole Hospital and the Royal Bournemouth Hospital, suitable NHS staff are being trained up to help with the crisis and general wards are being turned into wards for Covid patients.
Wareham Hospital is getting ready for its first Covid vaccination clinic
Swanage numbers
In Swanage, the number of confirmed cases for the seven days up to 3rd January 2021 is 25 with the 7 day case rates per 100,000 is 254.7. While this is the highest rate since the start of the pandemic, it is below the national average in England.
Public Health Dorset data 27th December 2020 to 2nd January 2021
Confirmed cases in last 7 days
- Dorset: 1,171 (compared to 744 last week)
- BCP: 2,400 (compared to 1,540 last week)
- South West: 19,354
- England: 344,555
7 day case rates per 100,000
- Dorset: 309.4 (compared to 196.6 last week)
- BCP: 607.1 (compared to 389.5 last week)
- South West: 344.1
- England: 612.1
Covid vaccine clinic at Wareham Hospital
The Purbeck Primary Care Network, which consists of Swanage Medical Practice, Corfe Castle Surgery, Wareham Surgery, Bere Regis Surgery, Sandford Surgery and The Wellbridge Practice is organising the Covid vaccine clinics. It announced the welcome news:
“We have finally received notification of the delivery of the first vaccines. We will be running a clinic from Thursday 14th to Saturday 16th January 2021.
“Due to capacity parameters and planning restrictions the vaccine will be offered to patients as directed by your GP practice who are working under strict government guidelines for prioritisation pathways.
“Further supplies of the vaccine will be arriving in due course and the vaccination programme will be a lengthy ongoing process. It is important that you do not not phone your GP surgery to book an appointment, as they will contact you directly when the time comes to arrange a suitable time/date for you.
“We are all working around the clock to provide all Purbeck patients with the vaccine as soon as possible so please be patient with us whilst we organise your vaccine pathways.”
The logistics of rolling out the vaccine has meant that there has been a campaign to recruit volunteers to help run the clinics with admin tasks and helping organise car parking. The Purbeck Primary Care Network says that it will publish a link on its Facebook page for volunteers to sign up for their prefered dates to help out at the clinics.
