Supporting the Vaccination Programme

Supporting the Vaccination Programme

Has the pandemic changed the way you use space? Maybe you have turned a spare bedroom into an office? Maybe you took some desks out of an office so staff could socially distance, or some chairs out of a meeting room. Reimagining how we use space is a key challenge of the pandemic and part of the set-up process for the vaccination programme too.

Thorndike Medical Centre in Rochester needed to start vaccinating their patients and were keen to get started in the race to beat the pandemic. The space available to them was normally used as a gym for individual and group therapy. The team worked out they could fit a 24-seat vaccination and observation area in the space, as long as they could introduce some physical barriers to maintain the 2 metre safety zones needed.

Clearly support was needed and urgently!

Being local to Brompton Barracks, where the MKC Training and the Royal Engineers are based, has its advantages and so the health centre’s management team put in a request for support. Steven Reece, MKC Training Faculty Manager, Electrical and Carpentry & Joinery at Brompton Barracks picked up the request.

“At first, it seemed we may have had some existing partitions that we could loan out to the health centre, but it soon became clear that there were simply not enough for the task.”

MKC Training’s Carpentry and Joinery division, who train the Royal Engineers in Brompton Barracks, were pulled in to help.

“It took a bit of creative thinking,” explained Steven. “Unfortunately, there were restrictions as we were not permitted to fix anything to the walls or floor of the room. This meant the partitions had to be freestanding.

“We asked Programme Area Leader Darran Brookes, and team members Ian Brough and Tim Thirkettle to put their heads together to come up with a plan. They were creative, practical and quick thinking! Their solution was feasible and viable, and they were able to go straight into production to create the partitions.

What they produced were mobile, free standing and did not require any fixtures or fittings to put together.”

The new space dividers were swiftly delivered and constructed in situ at the health centre. The management team was delighted with the product and the support that had been provided.

Looking back over the past few weeks, Dr Daniel Kerley explains the impact,

“Without these partitions we would not have been able to deliver in this facility 3,300 Pfizer vaccinations between 15 and 23 January, 900 Astra today (26 January) nor the further 2,200 we will be delivering there between 27 January and 2 February. And who knows how many more ongoing?”

Without partitions, there was no division between computer stations and the flow of patients to the exit. A very impractical, non COVID-safe area.

Image kindly provided by Thorndike Medical Centre

“It is great that we were able to support the local GP surgery in preparation for them supporting the local community in this national endeavour” concludes Steven Reece.

A patient is vaccinated while another patient (head just visible over the vaccinator’s left arm) awaits vaccination.

Image kindly provided by Thorndike Medical Centre

Without the partition creating the corridor, the available vaccination area could not accommodate the 24 socially distanced chairs needed for the 15-minute wait following the Pfizer vaccination.

We would like to thank everyone involved for their support on this essential project!

---