4th January 2021
As the country continues to face the most serious public health challenge in living memory, the Government faces a huge task to vaccinate millions of people as quickly as possible. To help ensure that the NHS is able to deliver a large-scale vaccination programme without significantly impacting on other vital services (including health visiting), they are recruiting now to thousands of roles, including vaccinators, while also working with partners to build a bank of volunteers from all walks of life who can support vaccine services.
It is encouraging to hear the positive response to this call in the recent NHS update:
“The response of current NHS staff and those who have come forward to help out – whether the tens of thousands of former staff and students, or the hundreds of thousands of volunteers – has been nothing short of inspirational”
NHS England and NHS Improvement.
If you are interested in becoming a volunteer vaccinator, please see https://www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/join-the-nhs-covid-19-vaccine-team/ for further information.
Details of the Health Education England e-learning modules that you will need to complete are available below.
Following the significant learning from the response to the first wave of COVID-19 on the importance of supporting babies, young children and their families, particularly the most vulnerable families, the Government’s position on the redeployment of health visitors from their substantive posts remains unchanged from that set out in the joint statement in October:
“Therefore, we advise that professionals supporting children and families, such as health visitors, school nurses, designated safeguarding officers and nurses supporting children with special educational needs should not be redeployed to other services and should be supported to provide services through in pregnancy, early years (0-19) and to the most vulnerable families.”
Public Health England, NHS England and Improvement, Local Government Association
HEE e-LfH COVID-19 Vaccination e-learning
Health Education England e-Learning for Healthcare has worked in partnership with Public Health England and NHS England and NHS Improvement to develop the COVID-19 Vaccination e-learning programme. The e-learning programme is designed to provide the health and care workforce involved in the national COVID-19 vaccination programme with the knowledge they need to confidently promote high uptake of the vaccine and deliver the vaccine programme effectively.
