Inverell medical practices praised for cohesive, collaborative response to COVID-19 vaccine rollout

Eligible surgeries in Inverell will receive 80 vaccine doses in week one starting March 22, which is then followed by 100 doses each week after.

The Primary Health Network has praised the Sapphire City for working together in a cohesive manner to manage the rollout locally.

St Elmo's practice nurse Caroline Palmer said practice managers had gathered at the expressions of interest stage to "discuss how everyone would roll out phase 1b".

Patients who are eligible under 1b are people over 70 years, those with chronic health conditions, meat processing workers, and medical practice staff. This means workers from Bindaree Beef will be among the first to receive their shots.

CLICK HERE TO RECEIVE EMAILS FEATURING THE BEST LOCAL NEWS AND STORIES, AS WELL AS OUR BREAKING NEWS ALERTS

"There will be eight doses per vial and 10 doses per vial from week two so we want to use them all so there is absolute no wastage," Ms Palmer explained.

Staff at St Elmo's have undertaken the COVID-19 training, with administration and reception staff completing three modules, while medical and nursing staff required to do six modules of study as well as specific COVID vaccination training.

"[I]it is not a compulsory vaccination, people may decline to be vaccinated however it is the people who are more vulnerable that we would like to protect first," Ms Palmer said.

READ ALSO

A Primary Health Network spokesman told the Inverell Times that eligible residents in the phase 1a and 1b will be contacted directly by their GP when it is time for them to get the injection.

"Inverell's response has been ideal," he said.

As they were doing their best, he said residents needed to keep themselves updated to make their job easier too.

"So we encourage everyone to go to the Health NSW website to check their eligibility, and to find out more, instead of contacting their GPs directly."

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content: