A Covid vaccination clinic in the Western Isles had to be moved to a hotel due to an outbreak of the disease in the local hospital.
NHS staff set up the temporary clinic in Stornoway's Caberfeidh Hotel on Satursday due to a spike in cases at Western Isles Hospital on Lewis.
The islands have recently gone into level four of lockdown following an upsurge of coronavirus. The decision was taken as a result of an increase in prevalence of Covid-19 and an increase in infection rates, with outbreaks in Barra and Stornoway and a cluster in Benbecula.
The Stornoway vaccination team were able to provide jabs to 268 people at the weekend clinic.
READ MORE: Coastguard praised for delivering tests from Barra
NHS Western Isles Chief Executive, Gordon Jamieson, said: “The community spirit is incredible in the Western Isles and without the support of other agencies, organisations and groups, such as the Caberfeidh, the vaccination programme would not be making such excellent progress.
"We are hugely grateful to the whole multi-professional team at the Caberfeidh for stepping in to enable us to provide this clinic, and for indeed offering us the premises for future use.
"A kind and thoughtful delivery of cakes for the staff from No.9 coffee shop was quite literally the icing on the cake.”
90-year-old Christina MacIver received a vacccine
Hotel Group Manager, Stuart Beaufoy, said: “We are happy to be able to help our local health board continue their tremendous work at this critical time.”
Meanwhile, NHS Western Isles has defended itself against accusation that agency or locum staff were the source of the recent outbreaks.
READ MORE: Western Isles set for full lockdown as Covid cases spike
A statement released by the healthboard in the wake of sumours sweeping the community urged people to avoid "pointing fingers" while an investigation into the source is carried out.
The statement said: "To blame anyone, or point fingers at this time, is unhelpful. In particular to blame healthcare staff or the NHS for a move to Level 4 is unjustified.
"We are proud of our staff, many of whom have been working tirelessly and selflessly throughout this pandemic to prepare, plan, train and put themselves in the frontline, without a second thought, to care for any and every individual that needs our services, regardless of personal risk.
"Through Test and Protect, we are investigating various potential possibilities for the source of the outbreak in Western Isles Hospital and also how it spread. It has been evident through all of our outbreaks that there are multiple potential sources where the virus sees and grasps its opportunity."
Staff outside the hotel
The statement added: "The current emphasis is on containment to prevent further spread and mass vaccination. That’s rightly where our energy and efforts (and the efforts of our staff) are currently directed.
"We are clear that the source of the outbreak was not locum or agency staff."
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