South Australians will be able to receive their COVID-19 vaccination sooner as the Wayville vaccination clinic doubles in size overnight, offering an additional 33,700 appointments.
The clinic ran as usual on Monday before closing its doors at 4pm so builders could transform the space, before staff were back to set up for an 8am opening Tuesday.
A large divider wall was removed from the adjacent Duncan Gallery as well as expanding into both sides of the Goyder Pavilion to create a bigger space, allowing the number of vaccination bays to more than double, from 42 to 96. The expanded clinic also includes a streamlined check-in area with mobile self-registration.
CALHN COVID-19 Executive Lead, Rachael Kay, said that expansion will allow the clinic to lift its daily dose rate, making it easier for South Australians to access a vaccination.
“The Wayville clinic has been vaccinating around up 2,400 people a day, maximising and more the old footprint in Goyder North. The new design provides a safe environment for the team to deliver over 4,000 doses per day, subject to vaccine availability.
“Since it opened at the end of April, the clinic has provided more than 200,000 vaccines, and hit a new record of 3,105 vaccinations on within 24 hours of the change, and we look forward to that daily number increasing as we make best use of this expanded clinic,” said Rachael.
Rachael said during expansion planning, the flow and infrastructure were key considerations, so the space worked as efficiently as possible for the community and staff in ensuring that the clinic is accessible to as many South Australians as possible.
“We have factored in what we’ve learnt to date by listening to customer and staff feedback and insights from colleagues in Northern Sydney Local Health District and South Western Sydney Local Health District (pre lockdown) so that we could deliver the best possible vaccine experience.
“While it’s a mass vaccination clinic, we have a people first focus and we want to make people as comfortable as possible recognising we provide a valuable service to a really diverse community”, said Rachael.
A reported 97% of the community who provided feedback to the clinic on the first day of expanded operation reported they were satisfied with the service they received.
Chief Public Health Officer, Professor Nicola Spurrier said she’s proud to see South Australians rolling up at every opportunity.
“This really has been a fantastic effort and I congratulate the Wayville team for their incredible effort and hard work scaling up the mass vaccination clinic to meet demand,” said Professor Nicola.
The Wayville vaccination clinic has significantly contributed to the 37.7% of South Australian who are now fully vaccinated – and momentum is continuing to build.
The team is also preparing to open the Adelaide pop-up clinic on Level 3 of the Myer Centre, which opened for bookings last weekend and will offer around 1,000 vaccines a week from 14 September and continues to offer it’s Wayville on Wheels outreach program.
To book your vaccination or check eligibility visit www.sahealth.sa.gov.au/covidvaccine
