The fantastic moment has arrived; residents in all five of Lilian Faithfull Care’s homes have now been offered the opportunity to be vaccinated against Covid-19 thanks to incredible efforts of local GP surgeries. Faithfull House care home in Cheltenham was one of the first six care homes in England to be visited and since then the NHS has successfully rolled out the programme bringing the Pfizer vaccine to over 200 residents in all of the Gloucestershire charity’s homes. Their other care homes included in the roll out are Resthaven Nursing home in Stroud and Astell House, St Faith’s and Royal Court in Cheltenham.
This amazing news comes on top of Lilian Faithfull Care staff being some of the first in the country to be vaccinated at Gloucester Royal Hospital in December – of which over 50% have now received.
“This is the light at the end of the tunnel,” says Martin Hughes, CEO of Lilian Faithfull Care, “This protection, that our residents and teams have embraced, is making our care homes some of the safest places to live and work in the county. It is credit to the teams in the homes and testament to our relationship with our incredible partners, our GP’s and practice teams at the surgeries, that we are at the forefront of battling this virus.”
The vaccination is not compulsory and appropriate permissions have been sought from residents and their families. So how have the residents found the experience? Care home residents commented with,
“It was quick and easy, it’s like all these things that you can get worried about them but it’s nothing to worry about.”
“I think it’s very important, to stop the spread of the virus.”
“It went very well. No problems.”
Lilian Faithfull Care thank all the fantastic GP teams for the smooth delivery of the vaccine from local doctor surgeries – Overton Park Surgery, The Royal Well Surgery, St Paul’s Medical Centre and Painswick Surgery.
James Mitchell, Deputy Manager and Clinical Lead at Faithfull House says, “It’s been thrilling to see the partnership working between our charity and all the community services. Seeing everyone come together the way they have to deliver what is essentially a historic vaccine for our residents has been incredible.”
The level of safety and protection which can now be found in all Lilian Faithfull Care homes will bring great relief and reassurance to residents and their families. However, it will not give immediate relief from the current infection control measures in the homes but it is a significant step towards the easing of restrictions and brings enormous hope for 2021.
For more information about Lilian Faithfull Care homes visit www.lilianfaithfull.co.uk
