As I tuned into the Prime Minister's announcement on the COVID-19 booster programme along with millions of others, I felt a familiar sinking feeling for several reasons. Obviously, the need to speed up the booster programme because of the emergence of the Omicron variant, by offering all over 18's a third dose by the end of December, was worrying, and as I write this, it is unclear whether we will face further lockdown restrictions in the new year as cases soar in late December.
But my main feeling of dismay was because of the lack of recognition for nurses in the phenomenal achievement the UK has made in rolling out the vaccination programme over the past year. Mr Johnson's words on the world-leading vaccination programme so far – and I quote – ‘… made possible by the extraordinary efforts of our NHS, including thousands of GPs and volunteer vaccinators, have literally saved countless lives and livelihoods in this country’ (Prime Minister's Office, 10 Downing Street, 2021) had me furiously thinking ‘What about nurses!’. Of course, GPs and volunteers have played their part, but the leader of our country failing to thank nurses – and particularly practice nurses – in an address to the nation is disgraceful and his speech writers should be ashamed of themselves. At a time where nurses have worked so hard, for very little reward, a few words of appreciation could go a long way. I hope our nursing leaders are working to educate Number 10 on how the vaccination programme is staffed. Heather Randle (p30) and Crystal Oldman (p32) both have much more to say on this topic.
I also had worries about how on earth extra vaccination clinics would have enough clinicians for all the extra work. We do not have thousands of nurses with nothing to do, so I know many of you must have worked extra shifts, as well as being redeployed to vaccination due to temporary reprioritisation of tasks – something that will have repercussions later as this work will still need to be done.
Regardless, nurses and other vaccinators have risen to the task in hand, as I had no doubt they would. Every day we have seen reports of record-breaking numbers of vaccinations delivered, making the UK one of the fastest vaccinators in the world.
I, for one, would like to thank you for all you have done during the pandemic, whether that's vaccinating us against COVID-19 or doing all the other incredibly important tasks that practice nurses do on a day to day basis that help keep our nation healthy, in spite of the pandemic.
Let's hope that 2022 is the year we finally see the end of this pandemic and can get back to normal. We'd love to hear about your experiences of practice nursing during the pandemic. Get in touch at pn@markallengroup.com
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