International Women's Day: Inspirational women who are playing a key part in the vaccination rollout

International Women’s Day is on 8 March and celebrates the tremendous efforts by women and girls around the world in shaping a more equal future and recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.

On this day, we take a look at some inspirational women at the Trust who have played a key part in the roll out of the vaccination programme. Over 20 million people in the UK have now had their first jab and the rollout of programme is the biggest vaccination effort the world has seen.

Karen Ceesay is Head of Workforce Transformation and has worked at Nottinghamshire Healthcare for 6 years. She talks about her involvement in the vaccination programme and how she felt extremely privileged and proud to be part of a programme which was so monumental on a global and national scale.

Karen Ceesay

“I have been involved in the Trust’s COVID response since March 2020 when I led on the development and management of the Trusts’ staff testing offer” explains Karen. 

“Having been on the COVID journey from the beginning I had gained significant insight into the needs of our organisation, our patients, and our workforce and subsequently my move into the vaccination programme was a natural extension to this role.

"The vaccination programme is a true example of teamwork,
collaboration and communication"

“Whilst my role varies from day to day it primarily involves the development and delivery of a Nottinghamshire Healthcare vaccination programme which consists of two main elements: the vaccination of our workforce and the administration of vaccinations to our patient population.

“The first vaccinations within Nottinghamshire took place on the 8 December 2020 at two Hospital Hubs. As the Hospital Hub continued to thrive, my role was initially focussed on ensuring that Trust staff were able to access vaccination appointments by working within national guidance and targeting staff identified as falling into priority groups. I’m now also part of the team leading on the vaccination of our patient population.

“The vaccination programme is a true example of teamwork. We all took on distinct but equally important roles and responsibilities and, as the programme gained pace, my role was to develop trusted relationships with those working across the system. I also took on a leadership role which required me to identify the future needs of the programme and to make key decisions in terms of how our desired outcomes would be achieved. 

“There have been a lot of challenges along the way, but these have arisen mainly from the pace of change, scale, urgency, and complexity of the vaccination programme.  It has not always been easy to plan as we have been dealing with a lot of unknowns and uncertainties. 

“My involvement in the vaccination programme provided me with an
opportunity to make a difference”

As a non-clinical member of Trust, Karen was unable to provide support as part of the Trust’s frontline services. However, she felt that her involvement in the vaccination programme has provided her with an opportunity to make a difference to the health, safety, and wellbeing of those who work tirelessly to ensure that our patients are cared for and protected.

“I felt extremely privileged and proud to be part of a programme which was so monumental on a global and national scale” says Karen. But, more importantly, I’ve felt a sense of responsibility to ensure that I developed a programme which allowed our staff and patients to access COVID vaccinations in a timely and safe manner.

“What stands out to me is that I recognised that things would 
never be the same again”

“In my normal transformation ‘day job’ I talk a lot about the three pillars of transformation – people, process and technology – but this programme has demonstrated that the true power is actually delivered though the development of trusted partnerships as this brings together the three pillars on a wider scale.

“Almost overnight, organisational, and geographical boundaries seemed to disappear, and job titles and pay scales were no longer of particular significance.  It felt like we were all part of one large team with a shared vision to facilitate the timely and safe vaccination of our population in line with national best practice guidelines.

“What also stands out to me is that I recognised that things would never be the same again.  This programme had demonstrated the true value of system working across all sectors of the Integrated Care System (ICS) and had paved the way for a new mode of working post-COVID.

“I have felt a great deal of admiration for the way our local population
has responded to the vaccination programme”

“I have found the whole vaccination programme inspiring.  I have so much respect of the commitment made by so many individuals; whether that be those giving up their free time to work in a vaccination centre, those being redeployed into vaccination roles or those working over and above in their ‘day job’ to vaccinate our patients.

“However, I am not only inspired by those supporting the vaccination programme.  I have felt a great deal of admiration for the way our local population have responded to the vaccination programme.  I witnessed this first-hand when waiting outside the King’s Mill Hospital Hub in January alongside a member of my family in cohort 2.  It was clear that this wasn’t just a vaccination for the majority of individuals attending the site, this was the start of a process which would make them safe again and give them back their freedom. These individuals were brave, and, at this point, the sheer magnitude of the vaccination programme became apparent and I knew that I was privileged to be part of it.