First Sussex mass vaccination hub opens at Brighton Centre
Members of the public across West Sussex can start to get jabs there from Tuesday (January 26th).
Last updated 25th Jan 2021
The largest coronavirus vaccination centre in Sussex has opened its doors on Monday (January 25th).
Teams from the Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust (SCFT) have started to deliver jabs at the Brighton Centre, one of 32 new hubs opening up and down the country.
The appointment-only service will deliver the vaccine to frontline and health care staff on Monday, before offering appointments to eligible residents living within a 60 mile radius of the centre from Tuesday - including all of West Sussex.
They are being written to directly by the NHS and invited to book an appointment. At present the NHS is ensuring that the over 80s are vaccinated before extending invitations to the next priority age groups.
This large-scale vaccination centre is in addition to the local GP-led vaccination services that now cover all patients in Sussex.
Jabs are also being offered at hospitals across Sussex, including at Worthing Hospital and St Richard's Hospital in Chichester.
People who receive a letter inviting them to book an appointment at the vaccination centre can choose to wait to be contacted by their local GP-led vaccination service if that would be more convenient.
As well as the vaccination centres, teams from SCFT are also providing a mobile service, delivering the vaccine to care home residents and staff across the county, and will also support the vaccination of vulnerable people who are housebound.
Siobhan Melia, Chief Executive of Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust, said:
“Setting up the Brighton Centre has been a phenomenal challenge for our teams and I want to pay tribute to each and every member of SCFT staff who has worked tirelessly as part of the COVID-19 vaccination programme.
“From the recruitment and training of hundreds of new members of staff, to the logistics of transforming this entertainment venue to a vaccination centre, our teams have been working around the clock to make sure we are in a position to get this vaccination centre up and running for the communities we serve.
"At the same time, our teams are delivering the vaccine to residents and staff in care homes, supporting GPs at GP-led vaccination sites and we will also support the vaccination of vulnerable, housebound residents over the coming weeks as well.
“We’ve never undertaken anything of this scale before and in a year when the NHS has risen to so many challenges I am, once again, so proud and humbled by the incredible efforts of SCFT staff.”
The Brighton Centre will offer appointments 12 hours a day, 7 days a week.
In November, the Trust launched an intensive four week recruitment campaign for additional vaccinators to support the programme which attracted more than 2000 applications. Hundreds of existing clinical staff have also stepped forward to help.
Donna Lamb, Chief Nurse at SCFT, said:
“We are so proud to be able to support the COVID-19 vaccination programme across Sussex.
“Our trained vaccinators, supported by amazing volunteers, are on hand to help patients who attend our centres and we look forward to vaccinating many more people in the coming weeks which will make a huge difference to the communities we serve.
“I would encourage anyone who is invited for a vaccination to take it.”
Allison Cannon, Chief Nursing Officer for the Sussex NHS Commissioners, said:
“The opening of the vaccination centre is fantastic for the people of Sussex and is another big positive step as we work to vaccinate as many people as quickly as possible.
"We have already made very good progress in a short period of time across Sussex and are on course to vaccinate the first four priority cohorts by mid-February, in line with the national target.
“The increased capacity the new centre brings will allow us to accelerate the numbers we are able to vaccinate further and offers another way in which people who are eligible can receive their jab as soon as possible.”