AN urgent plea is being made by Hywel Dda University Health Board (UHB) for registered health care professionals to join its Covid-19 immunisation team.

The board is making its final preparations to deliver a mass vaccination programme on a scale not seen before in the NHS and is urgently looking to recruit into bank or short term contracts.

Ros Jervis, director of Public Health at Hywel Dda UHB, said: “The long-term response to the pandemic requires a safe and effective vaccine to be available for all who need it.

“At Hywel Dda UHB we are making the final preparations to make sure that as soon as a safe and effective vaccine is approved for use, we are ready to deliver it to the people in our community most at risk from Covid-19."

One medical professional who has decided to return to help is Dr Roger Diggle who retired as deputy medical director of the board in 2019.

This followed his career as a GP, then chief medical officer in the Falkland Islands and medical director of NHS Shetland.

Since September 2019, he has been helping out a GP practice four days a month as a locum GP.

He said: "I am intending to help the vaccination programme in any way I can, as the success of the programme is critical to controlling the Covid epidemic.

"We need as many immunisers as possible in order to deliver the large number of vaccinations in as short a time period as possible."

Applications can be made now on https://hduhb.nhs.wales/jobs/