Vaccine Buses and Leith Locations

Well, somewhat as expected, it took some time to establish and confirm my new location. On my very final Friday shift at the EICC I was told that I had been reallocated to Leith Community Treatment Centre (CTC) which is excellent news as it was my first choice location and is very local for me. However that allocation was not due to start until more than a week later and I was asked if I would take paid leave the following week. I asked if there were any locations that I could go to instead for a couple of shifts and they offered me two shifts on the vaccine bus on a student campus.

The first bus shift proceeded fairly uneventfully but the second one almost failed to get started. For the second bus shift all of the vaccinators, the admin support and the bus arrived on time but there were no staff to unload the bus and assemble the site (tables, chairs, bins, substantial marquee, weights, sandbags etc) and no sign of any laptops, sharps bins and perhaps most crucially, any vaccines. These last items are not usually kept on the bus overnight but are delivered separately. Although we had all arrived at 10am thinking of getting started by 11am at the latest it was well after 12noon before we had all of the necessary equipment to commence. Even then we had only a small amount of vaccine and despite repeated requests for more supplies, we ran out of vaccines twice over the course of the day. One suggestion was made for us to send a team member to Gorebridge or Ingliston for more vaccine supplies but as all team members had arrived either by foot, bus or bike this was not considered a practical option. However we did nevertheless spend most of the day vaccinating a wide range of students and other local people.

The following week I started at Leith CTC. Well, kind of. My first shift was actually at Sighthill Health Centre as they were short of staff but my second one was actually in Leith. It was a good and busy day, especially in the afternoon where the queue got up to 50 people at one point, but we did get through them all eventually. Leith was well set up and reasonably laid out although it would have been helpful if at least one of the vaccination staff team had experience of working in Leith CTC previously. As it was none of us had previously had a shift there. Fortunately the team consisted of a varied bunch of experienced healthcare staff who just got on and found what was needed, asked for help from locally based staff when available, and ensured that the clinic ran as smoothly as possible. It will get easier over time as more of us learn how the system works in Leith. It’s really good working with pleasant, reliable, supportive and widely experienced health staff who are unfazed by uncertainty and a lack of local knowledge and are simply determined to ensure that those who turn up for vaccination receive the service and treatment that they have a right to expect.

So far so good and as it stands at the moment I would expect to continue here at Leith CTC for a couple of days a week over the winter period, all other things remaining equal.