The chief of north west London's care unit has congratulated staff for "flying around" vaccinating patients who are housebound.

Lisa Basi, Central North West London’s (CNWL) head of integrated Primary Care Camden has written a personal "well done" to all her staff, including healthcare transport providers.

She writes: "The rollout of the housebound vaccinations has been great progress.

"I would like to particularly recognise the HATs Transport team (healthcare transport providers) and the knowledge and skill of the drivers to enable us to ‘fly’ around Camden so quickly for the nurses to do 11 visits/vaccines per day. With more to do, of course.

"For those who are not aware; we need to give 11 doses of vaccine per one vial of Astra Zeneca within six hours before it expires and keep it carefully at the right temperature with minimal movement; that means 11 visits/vaccines in six hours!

"We would not achieve this if we did not have the excellent communication and organisational skills in the admin team to gain the details we need plus the HATs transport drivers to get us around on the fastest route and deal with the inevitable contingencies on the way."

More than one million people in the UK aged 80 or over have been invited to book a coronavirus jab at a vaccination centre.

People are also being vaccinated in GP surgeries and pharmacies.

According to local population figures across North West London Health and Care Partnership, there are 1,459,580 people under 80 and 51,226 over 80.

On January 21, 40,375 under 80s had received their first dose and 3,026 a second dose, according to NHS figures.

Of the 51,226 over 80s, 28,226 people have received their first dose, and 8,850 have received a second dose.

Ruth May, chief nursing officer for England, said: “The NHS vaccination programme, the biggest in NHS history, is off to a strong start with more than three million people receiving the life-saving jab, including more than a third of those aged 80 or over.

“Having worked alongside clinicians at my local hospital I know how tough it is for our staff treating an increasing number of seriously ill people with COVID-19 – so I cannot stress enough how important it is that everyone plays their part by practicing social distancing and following the national guidance.”

CNWL is made up of 30 NHS and local authority organisations, including a mental health unit in Park Royal.