The vaccination centres at the Great Yorkshire Showground in Harrogate and Ripon Races reopen today for the first time since Christmas.

The two sites are run by Yorkshire Health Network, which represents the 17 GP practices in the Harrogate district.

The Yorkshire Event Centre at the showground will open for booked appointments from 11am until 8pm. Appointments are still available.

The site will also accept walk-ins from 11.30am today but people choosing this option may have to wait because bookings take priority.

The showground will be open at the weekend from 8.30am to 5pm for booked appointments and from 9am to 4pm for walk-ins.

All the clinics are for first, second or booster jabs for over-18s. Special clinics for 12 to 17-year-olds are put on separately.

Ripon Races will be open tomorrow and on Saturday at the usual times of 8:30am to 5pm for booked appointments and 9am to 4pm for walk-ins.

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Staff and volunteers at the Yorkshire Event Centre are due to relocate to another building at the showground on Thursday and Friday, ready for the Saturday clinic.

The new site is currently contracted for use until March. A decision on fourth vaccinations has yet to be taken.

Each month the Stray Ferret tracks what the three MPs in the Harrogate district have been up to in Parliament and their constituencies.

As this is the last month of the year, this time we have provided a round-up of the activities of Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Andrew Jones, Skipton and Ripon MP Julian Smith, and Selby and Ainsty MP Nigel Adams throughout 2021.

As always, we asked all three if they would like to highlight anything in particular. Once again, we did not receive a response from any of them.

Andrew Jones, Harrogate and Knaresborough MP.

In Harrogate and Knaresborough, here are some of the key moments from Mr Jones’s year:

• Writing on his website in early January, he called the third national lockdown the one “nobody wanted”. However, he said the vaccines now provide “light at the end of the tunnel”.
• On January 13, Mr Jones revealed on his website that he had visited the Great Yorkshire Showground to check on progress with the vaccination programme. At that point, he said the site had vaccinated over 3,000 people at a rate between 125 and 135 people per hour.
• At PMQs on March 24, the MP urged the Prime Minister to support Harrogate Town’s bid to rearrange the date of its trip to Wembley so fans can attend. He even told a Harrogate Town supporter that he’d be on the train to Wembley with the fans if date is changed.
• In April, on his website, the MP spoke out against rumoured plans for vaccine passports, describing them as “extremely problematic”.
• In June, the Harrogate & Knaresborough MP was spotted campaigning for the Conservatives ahead of the Batley & Spen by-election on five different occasions. He was photographed eating fish and chips with Tory candidate Ryan Stevenson.
• On July 5, Mr Jones voted for the Police, Crime and Sentencing Bill on its third reading in the House of Commons. The bill has been criticised for giving more powers to police over protests.
• In November he congratulated Harrogate District Climate Change Coalition for hosting its first climate action festival ahead of COP26.
• In December, Mr Jones told a constituent that the findings of an investigation into an alleged Christmas party at 10 Downing Street last year should be published as soon as possible.

Julian Smith, MP for Skipton and Ripon.

In Ripon, here are some of the key moments from Mr Smith’s year:

• At PMQs on February 10, Mr Smith asked prime minister Boris Johnson how the UK’s vaccine supply chain will cope if the virus mutates. In his response, Mr Johnson said the UK is going to have to get used to the idea of vaccinating and then revaccinating in the autumn as it faces new variants.
• Mr Smith announced on Twitter that his father-in-law has gifted him and his wife an ‘aphrodisiac themed’ takeaway meal to be delivered on Valentine’s Day.
• Mr Smith began a third lucrative advisory job, this time to MJM Marine Ltd, a cruise ship refurbishment company based in County Down, Northern Ireland. These roles earned Mr Smith an extra £144,000 a year.
• In July, Mr Smith voted for mandatory covid vaccines for care home staff.
• In September he told constituents he was “really sorry” if they were affected by TV disruption following the Bilsdale mast fire.
• Following the Owen Paterson lobbying scandal, he resigned from all three advisory roles in November.

Nigel Adams, MP for Selby and Ainsty which includes rural parts of the Harrogate district.

• In February, Mr Adams paid tribute to Captain Tom Moore following his death at the age of 100. He wrote: “RIP. A true British hero”.
• At an HBC planning committee on March 9, it was revealed Mr Adams personally wrote to committee members with his concerns about an 80-home development in Green Hammerton.
• In June, The Boundary Commission proposed changes to Mr Adams’ constituency that would see him lose all areas within the Harrogate district.
• According to MPs register of interests as of August 23, Mr Adams had received £6,000 worth of free hospitality tickets to England’s Euro 2020 games.
• Mr Adams was appointed minister without portfolio in the Cabinet Office on September 16 as part of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s cabinet reshuffle.
• On September 10, Mr Adams was filmed telling anti-Brexit campaigner Steve Bray to “f*** off”. He defended his outburst and said his words reflected the views of many MPs.

The covid rate increased significantly in the Harrogate district today in another sign that the Omicron variant is beginning to have an impact.

The seven-day rate leapt from 419 per 100,000 people to 476. It was 383 two days ago. It comes after another 144 daily infections were reported by NHS England.

The rate remains considerably lower than the England average of 783 but slightly above the North Yorkshire average of 444.

Harrogate West and Pannal Ash, which has had 57 confirmed cases in the last seven days, is the district’s current covid hotspot.

A total of 91,569 people in the district have received either booster or third doses of the covid vaccine.

Read more:

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The Great Yorkshire Showground in Harrogate will accept walk-in patients and booked patients for booster jabs tomorrow this week.

Children aged 12 to 17 will also be able to turn-up for walk-in boosters at the showground from 1.30pm to 4.30pm tomorrow and from 9am to 12.30pm on Tuesday.

Ripon racecourse, which was not open today. is due to administer more jabs tomorrow.

The seven-day covid rate of infection in the Harrogate district has increased from 383 per 100,000 to 419 in the first significant increase since Omicron.

A further 158 cases were reported in today’s government figures.

Until today, the district had not appeared to have been affected by the rapid increase in infections that have hit other parts of the county.

Across the county, the average stands at 426 and the England rate has soared to 723.

Today’s figures also reveal more than 85,000 booster and third vaccines have been administered in the district.

UK Health Security Agency figures show that a total of 85,929 booster and third vaccines have been given so far.

Read more:

• Harrogate hotel suffers £100,000 cancellations due to Omicron
• Meet the showground heroes boosting Harrogate’s vaccine programme

No further deaths from patients who tested positive for covid have been reported at Harrogate District Hospital, according to NHS England.

Latest available figures show eight covid patients are being treated at Harrogate District Hospital.

More than half of those eligible for a booster jab in the Harrogate district have had a vaccine, according to latest government figures.

UK Health Security Agency data shows that the percentage uptake for those aged 12 and over currently stands at 54%.

A total of 83,790 booster and third vaccines have been administered in the Harrogate district as of today.

Across the district, 2,327 booster jabs were given yesterday, as the vaccination programme is accelerated.

Read more:

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Meanwhile, the Harrogate district has reported a further 137 covid cases, according to today’s government figures.

The Harrogate district’s covid rate has fallen to 377 infections per 100,000 people.

Across the county, the average stands at 372 and the England rate is 553.

No further deaths from patients who tested positive for covid have been reported at Harrogate District Hospital, according to NHS England.

Latest available figures show eight covid patients are being treated at Harrogate District Hospital.

About 20,000 people are expected to receive booster jabs at Harrogate’s Great Yorkshire Showground between December 6 and 22. Another 35,000 are set to follow in the New Year.

Most people who go agree it’s a slick, well-run operation. That it works so well is down to the efforts of 50 staff and 60 volunteers behind the life-saving operation.

The Stray Ferret spoke to some of those on site this week. The 60 volunteers are divided into four teams of 15 volunteers a day supplied on alternate days by community groups Boroughbridge Community Care, Harrogate and District Community Action, Nidderdale Plus and Knaresborough Connectors.

The Boroughbridge team, led by volunteer coordinator Jan Seymour, was on duty when we visited.

Ms Seymour was holding a box of chocolates, donated by a patient. All such gifts get shared between the helpers. She jokes:

“The people we like most are the ones that bring us chocolate and cake!

Jan Seymour

The set-up at the Yorkshire Event Centre is the same as it was from February to August this year when some 120,000 first and second dose vaccines were administered.

The volunteers remain relentlessly cheerful and helpful but there is a wearier feel to the place than there was in spring. Ms Seymour says:

“When we opened in February everyone was absolutely desperate to get it. Now the attitude is ‘I’m a bit busy today, can I come tomorrow?'”.

Volunteers typically do half a day each, either from 8am to 1pm or 1pm to 6pm. They meet and greet people, direct traffic and take people to one of the 16 vaccination pods, which can cater for up to eight vaccinators. Ms Seymour says:

“During lockdown it was easy to get volunteers but recently it’s become harder. Some people are back at work and many volunteers are older people who have childcare duties.

“The majority of patients are absolutely wonderful. They could not be more thankful. We get the odd one who isn’t. One guy had a go at me on Monday when he said ‘why can’t I go to my doctor for this? But that’s unusual. Most people are great.”

Staffing fatigue

Yorkshire Health Network, which is a federation of the 17 GP practices in the Harrogate district, manages the vaccination sites at Harrogate and Ripon racecourse.

Tim Yarrow, operations manager for the network, says the Harrogate site can handle greater numbers of walk-in patients because of its size and abundant parking.

Tim Yarrow

The quietest time, he says, is early to mid afternoon, then numbers soar towards the end of the day as many people try to get in at the end of their working days. The decision to allow walk-ins this week sparked a surge of visitors with queues of up to an hour at peak times.

Mr Yarrow says:

“We set this up in one-and-a-half days. It was easier second time round. We knew the snagging points from last time.

“The main challenge is staffing fatigue. During lockdown we had a lot of people with not a lot else to do. As people have gone back to their day jobs their availability has become more sparse.”

Yorkshire Agricultural Society, which owns the site, has “bent over backwards to enable it to happen”, says Mr Yarrow. When the site re-opens in January, jabs will take place in another building at the showground so the society can resume holding events in the Yorkshire Event Centre.

Moderna provided

Barnaby Roe, general manager of Yorkshire Health Network, oversees the operation at the showground.

In a makeshift office on site, he explains that the 50 staff are comprised of GP practice staff, who are helping for free on their days off, members of Yorkshire Health Network, pharmacists, pharmacist technicians and nurses. Half work the morning shift and half work in the afternoon.

“This programme will be for 20,000 to December 22 then going forward we think it will be another 35,000.”

Barnaby Roe

The site is giving doses of the Moderna booster but also administers some Pfizer jabs to children from immunosuppressed families.

“The people who work here have done it for some time and it’s down to a fine art.”

Booster appointments can be booked at the showground here. The site provided some walk-in appointments this week for over-18s who were eligible for jabs and has yet to decide whether they will be available next week.

The Harrogate district has reported a further 97 covid cases, according to today’s government figures.

The district’s covid rate now stands at 430 infections per 100,000 people. It was 450 yesterday.

Across the county, the average stands at 390 and the England rate is 503.

No further deaths from patients who tested positive for covid have been reported at Harrogate District Hospital, according to NHS England.

A total of 200 patients have died with covid at the hospital since the start of the pandemic.

Read more:

• Great Yorkshire Showground in Harrogate reopens for vaccines today
• Still no omicron infections in Harrogate district as rate drops

Harrogate’s Great Yorkshire Showground reopened this week as a vaccination site.

Those eligible can book appointments on the NHS booking site here.

Anyone over 18 who had their second covid jab over three months ago can also walk-in for a jab. The walk-ins are available until Sunday when they will be reviewed again.

The showground site has also said it is closed for walk-ins between 1215pm and 115pm each day when staff change shifts.

Harrogate’s Great Yorkshire Showground is to accept walk-ins this afternoon to help with the roll-out of the covid booster programme.

Those eligible for a booster can just turn-up between 1.30pm and 4pm at the showground. Currently, there are no other walk-in sessions scheduled for the site, which re-opened this week.

To qualify, people need to be aged 40 and above. At least six months must have passed since their second dose and they must have no coronavirus symptoms.

The showground was due to close on December 22 but it now looks set to continue until March, although this has yet to be confirmed.

Non walk-in appointments can be booked on the NHS booking site here.

The Harrogate district has reported a further 161 covid cases, according to today’s government figures.

The district’s covid rate now stands at 438 infections per 100,000 people.

Across the county, the average stands at 404 and the England rate is 478.

Harrogate District Hospital currently has 12 covid-positive patients – a figure which has fallen from 25 over the last month.

The hospital last reported a death of a patient who died within 28 days of testing positive on Friday. Since the pandemic began 199 people have died with covid at the hospital.

Read more:

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• Great Yorkshire Showground vaccine site starts taking booster bookings

Harrogate’s Great Yorkshire Showground reopened today as a vaccination site.

Although Harrogate is the largest place in the Harrogate district, the town has not had a vaccination site since August, when the showground stopped administering jabs.

Since then residents have been travelling to Knaresborough, Ripon and Pateley Bridge, or further afield to Leeds and York, for appointments.

The showground was due to close on December 22 but it now looks set to continue until March, although this has yet to be confirmed, as the government aims to speed up the vaccination programme.

Those eligible can book appointments on the NHS booking site here.

Harrogate’s Great Yorkshire Showground reopens today as a vaccination site.

Although Harrogate is the largest place in the Harrogate district, the town has not had a vaccination site since August, when the showground stopped administering jabs.

Since then residents have been travelling to Knaresborough, Ripon and Pateley Bridge, or further afield to Leeds and York, for appointments.

The showground was due to close on December 22 but it now looks set to continue until March, although this has yet to be confirmed, as the government aims to speed up the vaccination programme.

Those eligible can book appointments on the NHS booking site here.

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