Following extensive consultation, a decision had been made to close the Swadlincote Covid-19 Assessment Centre, situated on the bus station car park. The “red hub” was originally set up in April in response to the pandemic and the expected peak of assessing 200+ local Coronavirus patients per day; thankfully it was never used to the full anticipated volume.
More recently, part of the hub site has been re-purposed and utilised by the school nursing team to deliver drive-through immunisations. The project was a great success and they administered in excess of 1,000 HPV vaccinations to children from the Derbyshire and Staffordshire areas.
Whilst it has been an excellent facility to support the local community, surgeries are now better equipped to replicate a scaled down service at each site so that patients with suspected Covid-19 symptoms can be safely assessed by their own GPs. Patients who are vulnerable and previously included in the shielding category will be able to continue using the Overseal Surgery that will continue for a short while as a “green hub”.
The hub team have expressed their gratitude to Frank McArdle, Chief Executive of SDDC, who has been extremely supportive throughout the project. They would also like to thank local companies and volunteers for their generosity in donating services and time to the project, in particular James Dean events for providing the site infrastructure to ensure costs were kept to a minimum.