STAFF at Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust have taken advantage of the offer of a free flu jab to protect their patients, themselves and their family – as well as children around the world.
As part of our 2019/20 flu jab programme, the Trust is taking part in Unicef UK’s Get a Jab, Give a Jab campaign.
The initiative encourages staff to take up the option of a free flu vaccine and, in turn, will see the Trust donate towards the cost of vaccinating children in developing countries.
Since vaccines were introduced in the UK, diseases like smallpox, polio and tetanus that have previously killed or disabled millions have been eradicated or are now rarely seen. Other diseases like measles and diphtheria have been reduced by up to 99.9 per cent.
However, many of these conditions are still prevalent in poorer parts of the world. Unicef UK’s immunisation programme protects children against these serious diseases and aims to play a central role in ending preventable child deaths.
More than 1.5 million children die annually from diseases that can be prevented by vaccination and nearly one in five infants in poorer countries miss out on the basic vaccines they need to stay alive and healthy.
The money raised by the Get a Jab, Give a Jab scheme will not only help buy life-saving vaccines – it will also ensure they can be delivered safely and securely.
Amanda Grice, Acting Manager of Bradford Teaching Hospital’s Workplace Health and Wellbeing Centre, said: “We’d heard about the Get a Jab, Give a Jab campaign and were keen to support it.
Donate money
“We’re delighted that the Trust has now agreed to donate money for every flu vaccine our staff members receive.
“Once staff became aware that getting a flu jab would also help vulnerable children get life-saving vaccinations, more of them have been keen to have one. It has been really well received.
“We’re delighted that our flu campaign will go beyond making a difference here at the Trust, and would like to thank the over 3,000 Trust staff who have received their vaccination so far this year to protect themselves, their patients, family members and vulnerable children around the globe.
“Hopefully taking part in the campaign will also help bring people forward who are a little bit reluctant to have the flu jab. The more people have the jab this year, the more money we will raise!
“We have a dedicated team of vaccinators who do a fantastic job in making themselves available to offer the jab to our staff.”
Thanks to the staff who have had their flu jab so far this winter, the Trust is already set to pay for thousands of vaccinations. However, we’re keen to vaccinate more of our own employees against flu – and help protect even more vulnerable children.
Professor Dame Sally Davies, Chief Medical Officer for England, said: “The harsh reality is that flu can kill. The best way to protect yourself is to get the jab. With more people eligible than ever before and the vaccine available in more locations, people should protect themselves and those around them from flu. It could save your life this winter.”
Factfile
- Almost 20 million children will not receive their most basic vaccines this year
- Since January 2019, there have been more than 360,000 measles cases reported in over 180 countries – the highest rate in 13 years
- Globally, 1.5 million deaths could be avoided every year if children were vaccinated
- £100 could protect 200 children against measles for life
- £1,500 could provide 4,370 doses of life-saving vaccines to protect children from measles, tetanus and polio, plus 46 large vaccine carriers to keep the vaccines cold and effective
ENDS
For further media information, please contact communications@bthft.nhs.uk or call 01274 383901.
Note to Editors:
- Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust:
Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is responsible for providing hospital services for the people of Bradford and communities across Yorkshire. We serve a core population of around 500,000 and provide specialist services for 1.1 million people.
Our 5,500 staff work over several sites, including Bradford Royal Infirmary, which provides the majority of inpatient services, and St Luke’s Hospital, which predominantly provides outpatient and rehabilitation services. We also manage local community hospitals at Westwood Park, Westbourne Green, and Eccleshill.
In early 2017, a new £28 million wing opened at Bradford Royal Infirmary, part of a £75m investment to improve patient care across our hospitals over a five-year period. It provides world-class facilities for elderly care, children’s services, a state-of-the-art intensive care unit with increased single-room provision and a retail concourse.
The new wing is a continuation of our work to improve patient experience after our new £2 million neonatal unit officially opened in January 2015. Our maternity services were recently shortlisted for the Royal College of Midwives’ (RCM) Midwifery Service of the Year Award, recognising excellence and innovation in the provision of maternity care.
In 2017, we also completed a £2m refurbishment of our Emergency Department (ED) as part of an ambitious vision to create a more efficient acute medicine service for the people of Bradford. It has been designed to provide a slicker and more efficient service, with faster senior clinical involvement at an early stage in the patient pathway.
As a teaching hospital, we are at the forefront of education and development in healthcare, and have an excellent reputation for research performance. We are one of the leading centres in conducting applied research in the country, particularly in quality and safety, elderly care and rehabilitation.
The Trust is home to the Bradford Institute for Health Research (BIHR) where researchers have led the development, validation and implementation of the award-winning Bradford Electronic Frailty Index (eFI) which helps calculate an elderly person’s risk of disability, impairment, falls and complications of chronic diseases, as well as their diminishing independence and capability. This is now being used by 98 per cent of all GPs across the country.
Our award-winning Ophthalmology department is home to numerous worldwide clinical trials taking the lead in eye care research and we are one of only three sites in the United Kingdom to be enlisted in the Perioperative Enhanced Recovery Hip Fracture Care of Patients with Dementia (PERFECTED) study, which will investigate how the NHS can introduce better standards of care to improve outcomes for people with dementia.
Follow us on Twitter: @BTHFT
The Trust has its own Bradford Hospitals Charity: https://bradfordhospitalscharity.org/