Vaccination team shortlisted for national award

The team behind Torbay’s Covid-19 vaccination service is in the running for a prestigious national award.

Torbay General Practice (TGP) – the alliance of ten GP practices that organised the vaccine roll out – has been shortlisted for Vaccination Service of the Year at the General Practice (GP) Awards.

The service, based at the Riviera International Centre in Torquay, has administered more than 400,000 Covid-19 vaccines and boosters since opening in December 2020.  The autumn 2023 booster programme will be the seventh ‘round’ of vaccinations carried out by the team.

The GP Awards ‘recognise, highlight and reward the hard work and innovation that gets carried out in primary care across the UK’. TGP will find out if they are among the overall winners when staff attend the gala awards ceremony at the Novotel London West hotel on 8 December.

Nicci Hilson, who oversees the TGP vaccination programme, said: “I am so incredibly proud of ‘Team Torbay’ and everything they have achieved over the last three years.

“From the various practice, care home, vaccination centre and outreach teams to all the managers, it's been a real joint effort to pull together to keep our patients as safe as we can through vaccination.

“Being shortlisted for an award is a real morale boost and gives our awe-inspiring team a tiny bit of the recognition they deserve.”

At the end of 2020, TGP practices had to work at speed and under pressure to devise a delivery plan and set up the centre. Since then, the team has had to adhere to social distancing rules, adjust working practices to comply with new vaccines and eligibility regulations.

Without the service, people would have to travel significant distances to national centres in Exeter or Plymouth, which didn’t open until later in the initial roll out. This was doubly important for local residents given the comparatively high age profile of the area.

The team also provided vaccinations and boosters to care homes residents and held clinics for homeless people.

A spokesman for the GP Awards said: “This award seeks to recognise a successful vaccination service or rollout.

“Vaccinations are an essential clinical service, and in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been many examples of new and innovative ways of maintaining the national immunisation schedule.

“Examples include setting up vaccination centres in car parks, temporary facilities and structures and the recruitment and training of new staff to cope with demand.”