Following an announcement from leading public health bodies that the national flu vaccination service is to be expanded to include care home staff, the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee has said it is in talks around the role community pharmacy can play.

Providing the flu jab to care home workers was one of a raft of winter health measures announced by Public Health England, the Department of Health and NHS improvement. Other measures include directing NHS trusts to ensure vaccines are available to staff and to record why those who opt out of the programme choose to do so.

In a statement, PSNC said it is in talks with NHS England’s central team around amending the community pharmacy flu vaccination service to include care home workers as a new target group. PSNC says this will “require minor amendments to the service specification and the national Patient Group Direction.”

PSNC said: “We will provide further information on updates to the service documentation as soon as possible; pharmacy contractors cannot vaccinate care home staff under the NHS Community Pharmacy Flu Vaccination Advanced Service until updated documentation is published by NHS England.”