Vaccinate, don ’t hesitate!

UNISON doesn’t think that people should be forced to be vaccinated, but the union is encouraging members to get the vaccine when they have the chance. Vice president James Anthony – a frontline NHS worker – has had his first dose, so we fired a few questions in his direction. James, you’re a frontline worker in a hospital and you’ve been caring for COVID patients during the pandemic – what’s that been like? I’m a nurse specialist and, in the first peak, I was mostly doing a lot of advice work with our patients, many of whom were very scared, while also looking after my heart patients who became poorly during that time. I felt relatively protected compared to my colleagues on COVID wards and intensive care, but it was important work. As we’ve hit the high numbers this time, the big difference is that the hospital is still full of other patients. I’ve been back on the wards doing whatever is needed – a lot of which is delivering quality essential care such as helping patients wash or eat. As nurses, we need more and more technical and advanced skills, but there’s nothing more important that the essentials of care. It’s also meant working alongside colleagues who are exhausted and still haven’t recovered from the first wave, and who are too often also dealing themselves with the loss of other staff to the virus. When did you have the vaccine? I had my jab as soon as I could get it, and it was about two weeks after they started giving them. They’re m...
Source: UNISON Health care news - Category: UK Health Authors: Tags: Article News Covid-19 vaccine Source Type: news