Hundreds of people with a background in healthcare have been trained to deliver Covid vaccinations to bolster Glasgow's taskforce.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said there was a need to launch a sustainable new model going forward.

Patients are screened by a nurse with vaccinations administered by the new team of "non-registered" health workers.

A total of 500 extra vaccinators are now working alongside the existing team of nurses, dentists and optometrists following trials. A similar system is said to be operating in Lanarkshire.

Health boards including NHS GGC and NHS Lothian have issued regular alerts urging bank staff to help plug gaps in shifts as the vaccination programme gathers pace.

In the latest, issued today, the board states that there are "extreme staffing shortages" on Friday.

A spokeswoman for the health board said: "NHS GGC like many other Health Boards, has been looking to introduce a new model for vaccinations which will be sustainable going forward.

"At the beginning of this year we launched a recruitment campaign to attract non-registered health care staff as vaccinators.

"The criteria was a background in healthcare and anyone meeting the national role profile was urged to apply. This model would see patients supervised by nurses, but vaccinated by this new team.

"Our campaign was very successful and we managed to recruit around 500 new staff.

"Following a successful pilot our rollout commenced this week, alongside our existing delivery model, giving us a good skill mix, ensuring we continue to successful rollout the vaccination programme across our population quickly and safely."