AN NHS trust is leading by example in a campaign to make sure its staff and patients are protected from flu.

In a first for Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust (TEWV), which runs the Princess Road clinic in Malton and Springwood Unit on the Malton Hospital site, 22 of its nursing staff have been trained to be “peer flu vaccinators” – staff who can give the flu vaccination to colleagues in their work area.

This is a new initiative to make it even easier for staff to get their flu vaccination at work, and will complement the three-month programme of vaccination clinics organised by the trust’s occupational health service, which began this month.

The trained vaccinators will be available on wards and in other clinical settings so their colleagues can get with minimal disruption.

Training session were launched by trust chief executive Martin Barkley, who thanked staff for their commitment to protecting their colleagues and patients from flu.

He said: “Our patients are our priority and we want to do all we can to protect them. Flu is a preventable illness and by being immunised you not only reduce the risk of getting the virus yourself, you help to stop it spreading. As we approach winter, influenza outbreaks become a greater risk to our patients and the way we deliver care, so we want to make it as easy as possible for our staff to be vaccinated.”