Churchill Square vaccination centre will offer up to 1,400 extra appointments a week by temporarily suspending walk-ins

Churchill Square vaccination centre will offer up to 1,400 extra appointments a week by temporarily suspending walk-ins.

The COVID-19 vaccination centre at Churchill Square shopping centre in Brighton is preparing to increase the number of available appointments to 1,400 each week for people to receive their vital protection.

These appointments will be added to the National Booking System and will be available for people to book via the website or by calling 119.

In total, it will mean that the service can provide 1,400 booked appointments a day.

Siobhan Melia, the Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust (SCFT) chief executive, said: “Our teams have done an incredible job over the last year stepping forward to deliver the COVID-19 vaccination to hundreds of thousands of people in Sussex and beyond through our large-scale centres and our roving teams. Now, to support the national drive to deliver boosters even more quickly, we are ready to step up again.

“We know there is a huge demand for appointments and pausing walk-ins at our Churchill Square centre will allow us to add another 1,400 appointment slots a week.

“We also have plans to recruit more staff and volunteers and are working towards being able to vaccinate up to 1,700 people a day at the centre in the coming weeks.”

The Churchill Square Vaccination Centre is run by SCFT, which has provided large-scale vaccination centres throughout Sussex since January.

Teams from SCFT have so far delivered more than 750,000 first, second and booster vaccinations through both the centres and teams who have travelled to care homes and residents who cannot leave their homes.

In Brighton 64,000 people have received a booster vaccination so far, which is 72.8% of those who are eligible.

Appointments can be booked for first, second and booster vaccinations using the NHS booking system or by calling 119.

A spokesperson for the Sussex Covid-19 Vaccination Programme, said: “Booster vaccinations continue to be offered to people in order of priority, with people aged over 40, those with underlying health conditions that put them at high risk and frontline health and social care workers currently being eligible.

“We are committed to stepping up to the next phase of the roll out and making as many appointments available as possible so that people can get their booster vaccination.

“It is important to recognise that our mobile vaccination services in the city will continue, providing walk in opportunities every week, and we want to remind people that they can use the 119 phone number as well as the National Booking System website to book their appointment.

“Walk-in and pop-up sessions continue to take place in various locations across the city at mobile vaccination units.

Brighton residents can check when the mobile unit is next in their neighbourhood on the Sussex Health and Care Partnership website.”

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