Altrincham’s first pharmacy-led vaccination centre is to open in Timperley next week.
The new centre, the first pharmacy-led vaccine available in the Altrincham area, will have capacity to administer 700 jabs a day.
It will be opening at the Larkhill Centre on Thorley Lane on Thursday and will complement the GP-led vaccination service being offered at the Altrincham Health and Wellbeing Centre and St Peter’s Assembly Rooms in Hale.
Patients should wait to be invited for an appointment and will then be able to book online or by telephone through the national vaccination booking service.
The new centre will have five vaccination pods and will be staffed by a team of 60 including 8-10 nurses, 15-20 pharmacists and 32 support staff.
The centre has been a month in the planning with comprehensive training given to all staff during that time.
The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine is being offered initially but the centre is able to offer the Pfizer/BioNTech too.
Lead pharmacist Muhammad Usman Shafique told Altrincham Today: “We have enough supply to vaccinate over 1,000 a week initially but have capacity to do 700 a day if required. After the first week we will review the demand and supply.
“All bookings will be dealt with centrally by the national booking system so people should not ring the Larkhill Centre. Patients will be contacted in order of priority.”
Next week the centre will be open on Thursday and Friday but, depending on supply, will be able to open seven days a week, from 8am to 8pm, and longer if required.
The centre gives Altrincham-based people a much more convenient alternative as currently the nearest pharmacy-led centre is at the Etihad Stadium, over 10 miles away.
Shafique added: “We are excited to finally be able to open the centre. We’ve been preparing for a month, and a considerable amount of planning and staff training has taken place.”
