Dr Daniel Kimberling, of Nimbuscare, says Covid jabs will still be given at the vaccination centre at Askham Bar, despite the heatwave - but, writing in this week's column for The Press, he urges people to be sensible about venturing out.

 

"During the heat wave our vaccination service remains open, as it has done throughout the year, but we urge people to be sensible about venturing out this week. We will be happy to vaccinate anyone who drops in, but people should try to arrive during the coolest parts of the day. We will be monitoring the situation and of course we will be providing water at the clinic and our clinicians will be on hand to support anyone who is struggling with the heat.

I want to stress that currently we are offering Covid vaccinations to people over 75 or who are immunosuppressed. If this does not apply to you, please wait until we announce the dates for the next cohort, which is expected to be September. Unfortunately we have had to turn away a few people who aren’t yet eligible and we really don’t want you to have a wasted journey to Askham Bar.

As Michelle mentioned last week, we’re going to be offering a really convenient option for people this Autumn by providing both Flu and Covid vaccinations during one visit. People can expect a notification to book into these Flu/Covid ‘one visit/two vaccines’ clinics from September. This will be a great opportunity for people – and it’s likely this will be for all over 50’s now – to be double protected in one go.

Once we know exactly which patients we can invite to book in for these clinics, we will let people know.

Our Acomb Garth Community Care Centre is now welcoming its first patients and it’s great to see our front door and reception open for the first time. We’ve welcomed the Tier three weight management service from York Hospital who are just one of the services co-locating in the building. This service is supporting people to change their behaviours and approach to eating and exercise in order to lose weight, improve their emotional, wellbeing lifestyle and health. It’s a bonus for York patients that this service is being provided in the community, alongside other services – there’s a lot of evidence to show that reducing your weight by as little as 5% can improve your risk of illnesses such as Diabetes and Cardiovascular diseases.

We’ve also started to provide our evening and weekend GP appointment service – Improving Access – at the Acomb Garth Community Centre. This is for people who are working during the week or who, for other reasons, prefer to be seen out of hours. We’re offering specific appointments at these times too, such as blood tests and cervical smears. Ask your GP Practice for an appointment between 6.30pm and 8pm Monday to Friday or on a Saturday morning and you may get the chance to come to see us at Acomb Garth.

Lastly I just want to congratulate Michelle Phillips, our chief nurse, and Anne Sands, our nurse vaccinator, who have both been shortlisted for York Community Pride awards. Along with many other York people, they have tirelessly supported our community throughout the year with their dedication and hard work. Well done to all!"