Daniel Kimberling, Medical Director of Nimbuscare in York, says in this weekly column that we must remember vulnerable people who still feel at risk from the coronavirus, despite legal restrictions having ended.

 

A lot has happened in the last week.

Our hearts go out to those near and far who are experiencing the most challenging times of their lives across the world.

And as this country adjusts to the removal of restrictions, we must be aware that in healthcare settings, strict infection control measures remain in place.

We must not ignore our social responsibilities and think of those who, at the start of this pandemic and before vaccines, antiviral and other treatments, found themselves “shielded”.

Within our GP Practices and across Nimbuscare’s services we are still asking people to wear face coverings, adhere to social distancing where possible and use the handwashing facilities.

Healthcare workers are still doing twice weekly lateral flow tests too. This is so important to keep people safe and protect us all.

Good infection control measures are here to stay, which is a good thing for our health and wellbeing.

Just because we don’t have to do something legally – such as hands, face & space – it doesn’t mean to say that we shouldn’t. I would urge everyone to use common sense and remain cautious when mixing with others. We know it makes sense

Our choices now, though not a legal obligation, remain an opportunity for us to demonstrate our continued commitment to shield those who, though safer because of advancing science, continue to feel more at risk.

They, and we, must get back to living a fulfilled life and we can only do that together.

There are others in our neighbourhoods that our not our own who are also vulnerable, and must feel an enormous loss of control over the risks they are exposed to.

Our sincere hope is that they too can be “shielded” - by policy, by global commitment to humanity, and, when necessary, by our city’s commitment to be a City of Refuge.

We continue to have faith in the power for good in the people of York.

Looking to the future and how we live with Covid, the NHS has written to health system leaders to set out the expected vaccination programme requirements.

In response, Nimbuscare, having done 532,000 vaccines at our Askham Bar site to date, is well placed to deliver these requirements in the future.

We are already delivering vaccinations to vulnerable children aged 5-11 years and so far have vaccinated over 150 children in this cohort.

We will soon be starting to deliver Covid vaccinations to other 5-11 year-olds

Here at Nimbuscare, we’ve been working really hard with our partners in the City on a recovery plan. With the commissioning group and council, we’re focusing on supporting people in the lead up to their elective procedures.

This is all about ‘preparing well’. We want people to be as healthy as possible when the time comes for them to go into hospital and we’ll be supporting people throughout this journey.

This piece of work will work in harmony with the new national Elective Recovery Plan, recently launched to support people on waiting lists.

We know that people waiting for elective care want to feel adequately informed and supported during this time and may contact their GP team for an update.

In response, and as part of the Elective Recovery Plan, the NHS has recently launched the first phase of the My Planned Care Patient Digital Platform.

This site provides people waiting for a hospital appointment, operation or treatment (excluding cancer) direct access to the latest wait-time information and support for all acute trusts across England.

The platform is easy to access and navigate and is designed for patients who are on an NHS wait list, as well as their relatives, carers and supporting healthcare teams, including their primary care team.