Pictured in Galway is Covid-19 vaccinator Noelle McNamara who has joined the vaccination team having been retired for 13 years. Noelle was a nurse in St. Michael’s Hospital, Dublin, and has been living in Galway for the last 25 years.

Staff being recruited to Covid vaccination team in west and northwest

THE Saolta University Health Care Group is currently recruiting staff to support the roll-out of the Covid-19 Vaccination Programme.

The group is looking for clinical staff (a minimum of 19.5 and maximum 39 hours per week) who are eligible to administer vaccines for an initial three-month contract, which may be extended. The group is also recruiting health care assistants and administrative staff to support the vaccination centres.

Vaccinations centres will be located in Galway, Sligo, Letterkenny, Castlebar, Carrick-on-Shannon and Roscommon. The vaccination programme will run seven days a week over a 12 hour day.

Paul Hooton, Chief Director of Nursing and Midwifery at the Saolta University Health Care Group, is leading out the vaccination programme on behalf of Saolta alongside colleagues in Community Healthcare 1 and Community Healthcare West.

Commenting, he said: “The Covid-19 vaccination programme is going to be one of the biggest immunisation programmes ever undertaken in this country. Our aim is to protect people and reduce the illness and deaths caused by this virus.

“Since the end of December across the Saolta Group we have administered more than 15,000 first doses and 10,000 second doses of the Covid-19 vaccine to frontline healthcare workers. We will shortly be moving towards supporting the public vaccinations centres which will enable the wider vaccination of the general public over the coming weeks and months in a safe and efficient way.

“We are looking for clinical staff to help us deliver an effective vaccination programme to frontline healthcare workers, community services and the wider community. Specifically, we are looking for registered healthcare professionals including nurses, midwives, doctors, advanced paramedics, emergency technicians, and pharmacists who are available to work a minimum of 19.5 hours per week to work in the Covid-19 vaccination programme. We are also recruiting health care assistants and administrative staff to support the vaccination centres.

“We will provide the training necessary and every member of the vaccination team will be given the Covid-19 vaccine.”

Details are available on the Saolta website at the following link: https://www.saolta.ie/jobs/saoltacovid19vaccteam0221.”

Paul Hooton, Chief Director of Nursing and Midwifery for Saolta University Health Care Group, talks about the recruitment campaign for Covid-19 vaccinators here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1Zlg3QlZH8