THE NHS is set to leave Salisbury City Hall after using it as a Covid vaccination centre for more than two years. 

The Malthouse Lane site was taken over by the NHS in January 2021, and since then almost 290,000 vaccinations have been administered there.

After a successful partnership between Wiltshire Council and the NHS, City Hall in Salisbury will host its last vaccination clinic tomorrow (January 28). 

At the time of writing, 287,923 vaccinations have been administered at City Hall since the start of the pandemic – which has helped to deliver 10.7 per cent of the total COVID-19 vaccinations in the region.

During the COVID-19 surge in 2021, 1,700 vaccinations in a day were carried out.

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Salisbury Journal:

In terms of the venue's future, Wiltshire Council says it continues continues to look at options for City Hall, "including re-engaging with the industry to seek partners for running the venue".

A recent bid for the Government’s Levelling Up Funding submitted to help with improvements to Salisbury’s cultural offer was unsuccessful but the council’s preliminary market consultation has taken place to better understand the type of arrangement a third-party operator would potentially enter into.

It was revealed by the Journal last year that 'urgent works' are needed to the venue before it can reopen as an entertainment venue. 

We also revealed how the NHS paid £291k to use the City Hall as a Covid-19 vaccination centre.

'We continue to work hard to look at the options'

Councillor Richard Clewer, Leader of Wiltshire Council, said: “We were happy that we were able to work in partnership supporting our NHS colleagues using the City Hall as a successful vaccination centre to help the residents of Wiltshire through the COVID-19 pandemic.

“In terms of the venue itself, whilst it’s unfortunate that we were unsuccessful in our bid for Levelling Up funding for City Hall we continue to work hard to look at the options available and we’ll keep people as updated as possible throughout this process.”

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Salisbury Journal: Cllr Richard Clewer, Leader of the Council with responsibility for MCI, Economic Development, Heritage, Arts, Tourism and Health and Wellbeing

Hayley Morgan, Consultant in Public Health for Wiltshire, said, “Having a vaccination centre at City Hall has been great asset in the COVID-19 response, and we want to congratulate our NHS colleagues for helping to protect so many people across the county. Whilst City Hall will no longer be a vaccination centre, you can still get vaccinated at other Wiltshire locations to protect yourself and your family.”

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'We will be ready to go again'

Gill May, Chief Nurse, Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire Integrated Care Board, said that should there be a need to stand-up a large vaccination site in Salisbury in the future, they "will absolutely be ready to go again". 

May added: “City Hall has been an essential site for our vaccination program for more than two years, and has helped to deliver over 10 per cent of total COVID-19 vaccinations in our region.

“And while it is bittersweet to leave this venue after so long, we do so in a much better place, with the vast majority of our population now vaccinated against COVID-19, and the height of the pandemic firmly behind us."

Other vaccination clinics continue to run across Wiltshire.  Anyone who would like further details of how to get a COVID-19 vaccination should visit www.bsw.icb.nhs.uk.