Covid Clinics - A Carnival Atmosphere in an otherwise bleak week!

Written by: M Fletcher

I know my colleagues may not share this sentiment, but I LOVE working weekend Covid and Flu clinics. Have I had a bit too much coffee? Or too little sleep? Have I finally succumbed to the pressure of working in Primary Care in 2022 and cracked? Nope, I really do mean it. Covid Clinics have been a recent highlight at an otherwise bleak moment in time for the NHS.

All I seem to read are negative and worrying articles about GPs only working part time, or how long it takes to see a doctor, or nurse strikes or drug shortages…it’s all a bit doom and gloom and I personally am tired of hearing nothing but GP bashing from patients, the public in general and the media. And that brings me to the subject of weekend Covid/Flu clinics.

Every day with out fail I deal with someone grumbling about the practice – it could be a patient wanting to complain, a staff member feeling overworked and pressured, or a PCN level meeting where, you guessed it, everyone has something to whinge about. It’s a difficult time in GP land right now, and we must find some balance, because if we allow the negativity to penetrate us as managers it will inevitably filter down through the ranks and everyone will be walking around with a face like a slapped backside.

This is why weekend covid clinics are such a positive in my mind. We don’t work a full day, and all we do is vaccinate. Clinicians only jab, they don’t answer any clinical questions or have time to just look at this thing on my back, and patients understand the appointment is just a quick in and out. We open reception but make it very clear that all we are doing on a weekend is running the clinic; no appointment booking, no queries, just vaccinating.

There are patients who I have seen grumbling at the desk on a weekday, who appear happy as Larry on a Saturday morning, they joke and have a giggle with the team and even thank us when they leave.

During the last clinic I laughed until my eyes watered when a patient, having overheard a conversation I was having with a receptionist about Halloween, said goodbye and imitated a zombie as he walked past. It was really, genuinely funny, and the patient (who I would estimate to be in his late 70s) was clearly happy at having made us all chuckle. It was fun – a genuinely fun morning working with a few colleagues and providing a service that, on the whole, our patients really appreciate.

Every single one of them left with a smile and a thank you, and I left work not begrudging the fact that I had lost the majority of my Saturday but feeling as though we had done something worthwhile and positive for our patients.

For reception staff in particular, who take so much flack it is a lovely experience, and they appreciate every positive comment and every word of gratitude.

Last year, during a Saturday covid clinic in early November, we realised that the radio wasn’t working properly. Faced with a choice of a free CD listing the most popular hits by Elgar or several festive albums, we decided to get in the Christmas spirit early, and we watched as patients queuing for their vaccines started dancing along to the tunes. It was like the scene in the Full Monty, for anyone who remembers that fabulous film.

For whatever reason, there is always a sense of fun at these clinics, a feeling that on these days patients leave their grumbles behind, and likewise staff get to come in and concentrate on one job and one job only, the task of protecting our patients and even better, doing it with a smile. We make sure that staff get a proper break mid way through the clinic, we order in bacon butties and I make sure that the one member of staff who is a secret smoker gets to go and pick them up so she can fit in a crafty fag break. We make sure everyone has a brew when they need one, and that we all leave on time allowing everyone to enjoy the rest of their weekend.

We are very good at organising and running flu clinics in general practice, and I used to love standing in the atrium of our surgery watching the snake of people moving through the building when we used to do walk in afternoons. It was a very impressive sight seeing hundreds of people being vaccinated like clockwork, walking in one door, joining a queue, being called for a vaccine and then leaving via the back. Once Covid hit we had to rethink the way that the clinics ran, considering social distancing and the time it would take to talk patients through the questions on pinnacle etc. but we have gotten very good at this too.

Our clinics now run like a military operation. We get everything (with the exception of the vaccine) ready the day before, the morning of the clinic we arrive, dole out the stock, make everyone a brew and once we’re all drawn up and ready to go, the doors open. It is a slick operation that has developed over the last couple of years, and I’m so proud of our team for continuing to give up their weekends to protect our patients. I’m even prouder of what these clinics have become; a fun way for the team to earn a bit of extra money and to receive the positive and grateful feedback from patients that they so deserve.

I hope that it is the same for my colleagues across the country, and that you too feel the positivity radiating from patients who, because of you, will feel protected this winter.

Covid is something we will just have to live with; for us in GP land organising vaccine programmes creates a lot of work and a lot of stress. But for those few hours, where all you can do is vaccinate, it doesn’t feel so bad. In years to come, we will be proud of our contribution, but for now, I’ll settle for dancing to Christmas music with the patients we serve, and occasionally seeing a man nearing 80 years old pretending to be a zombie as he wishes me all the best for the rest of my weekend.