THE battle to beat Covid-19 in Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin is being boosted with nearly 1,000 new staff members recruited to join the area’s vaccination service.

Vaccinators, healthcare assistants, administrators and car park marshals are all being brought in to join the team working on vaccinating people ahead of those returning to hospitals for a second dose.

The recruitment drive has been led by Gobowen's Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (RJAH) supported by the Midlands and Lancashire Commissioning Support Unit (MLCSU), in its capacity as lead employer for the vaccination service.

It has also been supported by HR colleagues from other organisations – including Shropshire Community Health, The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, Shropshire Council and Telford & Wrekin Council.

Sarah Sheppard, director of people for both RJAH and MLCSU, said: “It has been a phenomenal team effort to recruit so many people in such a short space of time.

“We launched our ‘Be A Part of History’ campaign at Christmas and, since then, have processed more than 1,700 applications and carried out more than 1,100 job interviews.

"We’ve made offers to more than 800 people – around 470 of those have already started, with the rest joining in the coming days and weeks.

"In addition 125 staff who have recently left the NHS have rejoined the vaccination programme and we have also received 51 staff who applied via the national recruitment programme.

“I’m so grateful to all colleagues across the system who have come together to make this happen. Recruiting so many people, so quickly, really is a stunning achievement and this has been a team effort from so many different people from across the Shropshire and Telford system.

"It’s been so inspiring to witness the ‘Can Do’ attitude from everyone involved.

“These individuals will be working right across the region in the vaccination centres in Oswestry, Telford, Shrewsbury, and Ludlow. We are delighted to welcome them to our team and thank them for coming forward.”

The arrival of new recruits means that vaccination centres will benefit from more continuity of personnel, while some of the redeployed staff will be able to return to their substantive posts so that the NHS can start to restore services paused by the pandemic.

Victoria Rankin, executive lead for people in Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin, said: “We’re so grateful to all staff who have offered to work extra shifts or who were redeployed from other services, in order that we could get the vaccination service up and running quickly."