All care home residents in Camden have now received a Covid jab, when accepted, according to the council leader.

Cllr Georgia Gould said on Monday that Camden GPs have now vaccinated just under 5,000 patients, as the council “stands ready” to support residents through the pandemic.

The borough leader said that more than 100 council staff have been redeployed to carry out lateral flow tests, with a team of 30 helping to set up testing for schools and 46 officers now in a business support role.

Cllr Gould said: “We are seeing over 1,000 people each week call the council who are in need of support whether it is mental health, access to food or other needs. We are doing all we can with our amazing community partners to support people through this difficult time.

“There is so much that we need to do this work well. More resource from government, but the area I am most concerned about is around poverty, the financial vulnerability that we are seeing, and the fact that the pots of money we have just are not enough to support people through this.

Ham & High: Council leader Cllr Georgia Gould said 100 town hall staff have been redeployed to Covid testingCouncil leader Cllr Georgia Gould said 100 town hall staff have been redeployed to Covid testing (Image: Camden Council)

“People are really facing terrible circumstances. It is an ongoing conversation, but Camden is here to do all we can to support in this really difficult time.”

Cllr Gould said all care home staff have received Covid jabs.

Cllr Maria Higson (Hampstead Town), while paying tribute to the efforts of the Royal Free and the borough’s GPs, raised concerns over the council’s communication with residents.

She referred to an update sent to councillors last Friday saying that jab-related messaging and communications material would be available “as soon as it is ready” for councillors to share with their own networks.

Cllr Higson said: “Given that the vaccine rollout started on December 8, this does not fill me with great confidence that we are ready and communicating effectively to our residents.”

Testing is ongoing at the symptomatic testing sites at Ramsay Hall, Kingsgate Community Centre and the Greenwood Place Mobile Testing unit, with 4,779 PCR tests across these facilities.

A total of 2,191 at-home tests took place in the week beginning December 29 last year.

READ MORE: Hampstead vaccination centre shoots for 1,000 daily Covid jabs