The Trust has been urging staff to have a 'Vaccine Conversation' with every patient/service user they see in the course of their work, whatever the reason. With staff seeing thousands of people every week, they are in a unique position to speak to them about the importance of having the COVID vaccine and provide them with the link to the national booking system.

Additionally, to support the need to vaccinate as many people as possible, the Trust has been promoting secondments to staff to provide extra resource to the vaccination team at Westfield both for now and for when vaccine boosters are needed in the Autumn. Our Westfield Vaccination Centre in Stratford is offering walk-in slots to capture people who come to the centre to go shopping, the cinema or to eat out.

The aim is to remove any obstacles to getting a vaccine. The centre is offering the Pfizer vaccine and providing the Astra Zeneca vaccine to people having their second dose, who had this as their first vaccine. Migrants and Asylum Seekers have also been urged to come forward for their jab and not to worry if they are not registered with a GP or don’t have an NHS number. We just want to get as many people vaccinated as possible.

Long COVID

Have you had Coronavirus but feel you have still not really got back to normal? Do you feel tired all the time, have a high temperature, breathlessness, cognitive impairment (brain fog), and generalised aches and pains? Many people feel better in a few days or weeks after contracting the virus making a full recovery within 12 weeks. But for some people, symptoms can last longer.

If this is how you feel, make an appointment to see your GP to exclude any other causes or reasons for why you feel like this. 

Reinforcing COVID-Safe Behaviour

ELFT staff will continue to wear masks, Personal Protective Equipment (as needed) and keep 2m away from others where possible.

Any visitors to ELFT premises will need to wear a face covering, sign in and follow one-way flows where these exist.

It is advisable to follow these measures outside of work too to minimise the risk of contracting the virus especially when inside in enclosed spaces with others.

The importance of regular handwashing or use of handgel cannot be under-estimated. Especially after using public transport, touching door handles, rails, cashpoint buttons, lift buttons, and other such surfaces to keep everyone safe.

Warning About COVID Scams

Unfortunately, a number of scams abound about vaccine passports, etc. so our Counter Fraud team have provided information to be cascaded to staff  for them to share with others to avoid criminal activity.