Look inside Sunderland's Nightingale Hospital as it opens as mass vaccination site

The NHS Nightingale Hospital North East, situated off the A19 near Nissan, started delivering the life-saving vaccine to health and social care staff on Monday, January 25.

The centre, which is capable of delivering thousands of jabs every week, carried out 750 vaccines on its opening day.

Open seven days a week, from 8am to 8pm, the facility is primarily vaccinating health and social care staff working on the frontline but has now started to vaccinate those aged 70 and over.

Professor Neil Watson, Chief Operating Officer in charge of the Covid Vaccine rollout for the North East and North Cumbria, said: "This site is primarily for health and social care staff and that has been our priority at the moment because there are still thousands of those to do within the timelines that we are working against, but we also have some bookings that are done through the national booking service and that is for the over 70s.

“We started slowly, we started gently. 750 vaccinations were done yesterday, but this site has the capability to open four times the capacity we have at the moment.

"We can flex that depending on how the vaccination progress is for the North East and Cumbria and we will keep a very close eye on that.”

People in their 70s, who live 30 to 45 minutes drive away, are now being invited to book an appointment at the Nightingale or at the Centre For Life in Newcastle – the other large-scale vaccination centre in the region.

They will receive an invitation letter from the NHS national booking service which will explain how they can book a slot – over the phone or online through the national booking service.

This is in addition to local health and social care workers who are being invited via their employers to book appointments.

Vaccination centres offer an alternative to local GP vaccination services and people over 70s can also wait until they receive an invitation from their own GP practice.

Ian Montgomery, 76, from Cleadon, was among the first to have his vaccine at the Nightingale.

He said: “It felt much the same as the normal flu jab you get in the autumn.

"My wife got the letter and booked us both in. I feel relieved to have it now.”

When patients first arrive at the hospital, they will be checked in at the reception desk before undergoing a clinical assessment to ensure they are able to have the vaccination.

They will then receive the vaccine and be asked to wait for around 15 minutes before they drive home. However, those who are not driving can leave after a few minutes.

The centre currently has around 70 staff and workers from St John's Ambulance, the fire service and the Army also helping with the roll out.

Professor Watson added: “We have opened this facility to increase capacity across the North East so as we receive the vaccine, we’re able to vaccinate as many people as we receive the vaccine for.

"The national supply chain is something that is dealt with nationally. We certainly have the capacity to deal with the vaccine that we’re supplied."

He added: "It is a big step for us because it is the second one.

"We learnt a lot from the first one at the Centre for Life so, when we opened yesterday, it went like clockwork.”

Although it is now being used as a vaccination centre, the Nightingale Hospital remains on standby to be used as an overflow facility if the number of Covid-19 patients became too high for the region’s hospitals to treat. The hospital opened in May 2020 but is yet to treat a patient.

Jessica Salmon, 29, from Sunderland, works for the British Red Cross Ambulance Service and was among the frontline staff receiving her vaccination.

She said: "I only made the appointment yesterday and came in first thing this morning so it was very quick, efficient, really easy.

"It does feel a relief to get the vaccine because I have not had the virus yet.

"I think being on the frontline every day, you’re just constantly in fear that you might get it so hopefully this will be enough to protect me and then also protect the patients every day as well.

"I understand that people are apprehensive about the vaccine because it is a quick turn around and they are not sure of the repercussions, but in the end we are all just trying to protect each other so there is no harm in getting it.”

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