YORK’S mass vaccination centre is set to take on an additional new role as a ‘health village,’ where people can go for health checks for conditions such as diabetes, kidney disease, heart disease, stroke and dementia.

The complex at Askham Bar is also set to host a careers fair next month, providing a great opportunity for people to come and talk to health professionals about working within the health service.

Another possibility being explored is that it could act as a clinic for children, where youngsters with conditions which their GPs have concerns about - but which do not require an urgent visit to A & E- could go for observation and assessment.

Professor Mike Holmes, of Nimbuscare, which coordinates the city’s vaccination programme, revealed the plans in his latest weekly column for The Press.

He said the centre had now carried out more than 370,000 Covid vaccinations but Nimbuscare was also continuing to work to generally improve the health of the York population.

“We have big ambitions to use our Askham Bar site, at least in the short term, as a ‘Health Village’ for better health,” he said.

“One of the things we will be introducing there is the very important NHS Health Check scheme which we are getting up and running.

“These are preventative health checks for eligible patients, designed to spot early signs of various conditions, such as diabetes, kidney disease, heart disease, stroke and dementia.”

He said the checks would be offered to eligible patients from member practices in York and would soon be carried out at the Askham Bar site and other locations in the city.

He revealed that a careers fair would also be held next month in the site’s ‘Tent of Hope - the marquee in which some of the vaccinations have been carried out.

He said this would be a great opportunity for people to come and talk to health professionals about working within the health sector.

“There will be lots of information about vacancies and you can find out about all the different professions,” he said.

“The event is on Saturday October 9, from 10am until 2pm and will include many health organisations within the city.”

He said Nimbuscare would also be representing its member GP practices at the York Careers Fair on Thursday 16 September at Novotel on Fishergate.

Prof Holmes told The Press that Nimbuscare had been working closely with City of York Council, which had been very supportive and had also agreed to extend the lease on the Askham Bar site until the end of 2022/beginning of 2023. “The council has been superb,” he said.

Cllr Carol Runciman, executive member for health, said the council had been in discussion with Nimbuscare about its 'exciting' plans and would continue supporting it to develop a model to improve health care for residents.

She said the vaccination centre had played a vital role in the city’s pandemic response and, long-term,  it would continue to play a major role in York’s future, providing opportunities for affordable homes.

Prof Holmes said Nimbuscare had also been in discussions with the Vale of York CCG about the possibility of holding children’s clinics there.

Meanwhile, he said he had been waiting for the important JCVI decision last week on vaccinating 12 to 15-year olds but it seemed he would have to continue to wait for this to be clarified.“I understand that it is complex decision which can’t be taken lightly,” he added.