The GP Care Group's Rachel Hodgkinson, a trainee practice nurse from East One Health practice has taken part in Healthy London Partnership's (HLP) new podcast series (London Health Podcast) in an episode called 'The Power of Practice Nursing'.
Rachel, who is coming to the end of her part of her two-year trainee course with the Open Doors Programme, took the opportunity to highlight the key role Practice Nurses play in empowering parents to make informed vaccination decisions for their child.
In the podcast, Rachel talks to Healthy London Partnership's Jonathan Sampson about the challenges parents face when trying to register their newborns during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the solutions she and her team have put in place to meet the challenges. She also discussed the concerns raised by parents about attending their GP practice during the pandemic, and how her team is reinforcing the message of safety within GP practices to reassure parents.
Rachel commented during the podcast: "In terms of parents who have anxiety about coming into practices, we are reassuring them about the precautions that the practice is taking. We are triaging all patients before they attend the practice, we have reduced face-to-face appointments, and we have longer appointment times to accommodate for social distancing in the waiting rooms and for more cleaning in between patients. All patients that come into the practice wear face coverings, nurses are wearing PPE, and we also have hand gel at the door. We are not using our main entrance, but instead, patients enter through our side door so that our Reception team can better monitor who is coming in and out of the practice."
"It is important to remember that the reason that parents are worried about coming into the practice and about COVID-19 are valid concerns out of a place of love, and parents wanting to do the best for their child. It is key that we are reassuring parents that by vaccinating their children, they are protecting them against serious diseases. We respond to parents as individuals and respond to individual concerns, and we accommodate them where we can."
Click here to listen to the podcast
