Vaccine service to move from Buckshaw Village Surgery to new Leyland site

A Lancashire surgery dedicated to the vaccine roll-out says it will stop administering jabs and return to providing GP appointments.
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Buckshaw Village Surgery has played a crucial role in the county's vaccine roll-out but it says it will suspend the programme in the coming weeks.

The surgery has operated solely as a vaccine centre since last December when all of its GP appointments were transferred to sister clinics in Chorley, Lostock Hall, Adlington and Croston.

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But the surgery says the vaccine programme has "clearly impacted on the services we have been able to offer to patients", and a decision has now been been made to transfer the service to another site.

Over the past five months, thousands of people have been vaccinated at the surgery, with 5,500 jabs handed out in March alone.

Instead, the service will be transferred to Jubilee House, an NHS site at Lancashire Business Park in Centurion Way, Leyland The site has already been used as a vaccination centre for those in Leyland and South Ribble.

This will allow for a "phased reopening" of Buckshaw Village Surgery as a GP surgery in the coming weeks, but an opening date has yet to be confirmed.

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The surgery said it will continue to offer vaccines to those aged 42 and over, as well as second doses of the jab to those eligible, for the next few weeks until the service is ceased.

A spokesman for the surgery said: "As you will be aware, since the turn of the year our main facility Buckshaw Village Surgery has been given over to the vaccine roll-out as our main vaccination hub, which has meant we have been able to concentrate all our resources as effectively as possible during the first phase of the programme.

"However, we are acutely aware that the dedication of the Buckshaw site to the vaccine programme was not a practical long term arrangement and has clearly impacted on the services we have been able to offer to patients.

"We are therefore pleased to advise that we are now working in collaboration with Bridgedale PCN with regards to the second phase of the vaccine programme roll-out, which involves all the remaining Cohorts under 50 and the ongoing second dose administration.

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"This phase will at present continue to be provided at Buckshaw Village Surgery but within the next few weeks, the service will be transferred to the Central Lancashire PCT’s headquarters at Jubilee House, Centurion Way, Leyland.

"We are very pleased to be able to announce that thanks to this arrangement coupled with the continued improvement of the national situation, we are planning a phased reopening of our Buckshaw Village Surgery site in the coming weeks.

"We hope to soon be able reintroduce many of the clinics which had temporarily been moved to other sites within the group, and also to increase face to face appointments."

The surgery added that the return to normal practice is dependent on the "national situation", which has improved significantly in recent weeks.

Brits received more than 50 million Covid jabs

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More than 50 million doses of the vaccines have been administered in UK to date, with 34 million people receiving at least one jab and 15 million having had both doses.

Data from Public Health England (PHE)’s real-world study shows the vaccines are already having a significant impact in the UK, reducing hospitalisations and saving more than 10,000 lives in England alone by the end of March.

The government remains on track to offer a jab to all adults by the end of July.

Vaccines Minister Nadhim Zahawi said: "The UK’s vaccination programme has been a huge success so far with more than 50 million doses administered – a fantastic achievement.

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"We have one of the highest uptake rates in the world and over 15 million people have now received 2 doses and maximum protection from this dreadful virus.

"Every jab brings us one step closer to putting this pandemic behind us. I urge everyone to come forward as soon as they are eligible – the vaccine is safe, effective and could save your life."

An extra 60 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine have been secured by the UK government to help support preparations for the booster COVID-19 vaccination programme from the autumn, if clinically needed.

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