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Flu service injects much needed resource

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Flu service injects much needed resource

Many pharmacies are delivering flu injections for the first time this year. P3 finds out more from London’s Rekha Shah

Flu vaccinations delivered in community through the new national scheme had reached 300,000 by the third week of October and were promising to reach even more significant levels by the end of the season. Kensington, Chelsea and Westminster LPC’s Rekha Shah has been involved in the London-wide scheme since its launch two years ago.

Speaking to P3, she says that this number is certainly set to rise once figures from pharmacies that are recording manually and not using one of the two data collection systems – PharmOutcomes and Sonar – are collated and included. “I think it’s looking really good,” she says. “I’d say that we could easily go to 400,000 or 450,000 vaccinations from community pharmacy.” In London alone, vaccinations were at last year’s figures already – at about 95,000 vaccinations compared with about 80,000 at the same time for 2014/15.

Although, one of the advantages of offering patients the choice of using pharmacy is that they are able to access their flu vaccine more conveniently and, therefore, earlier in the season. This makes it difficult to assess where the numbers will end up, says Ms Shah.

“But being able to access that vaccination much earlier in the season has a health benefit in itself,” she says. “Getting vaccinated earlier rather than waiting until your GP practice can fit you in later in October or early November is far better. “Last year at this time, we were at about 80,000 so we are well on target to exceed it. The commissioner set us, I think, 125,000. Remember, people are coming in earlier now, so it’ll be a steeper fall-off from now. But whatever we do, it is helping.”

Results in from London

Ms Shah has been monitoring the data for vaccinations carried out so far in London, compared to previous years. She says that there have been some interesting results.

Of the people vaccinated in London, 21 per cent (2014/15), and 38 per cent (2013/14), said that they hadn’t been vaccinated before. “To build another 21 per cent on top in a subsequent year is quite huge,” she says. Ms Shah also notes that 1,000 people seen by pharmacists for flu vaccination last season were not registered with a GP.

These people wouldn’t have managed to access the vaccine unless they’d had it privately, she says. In addition, specific groups of patients are benefiting from accessing flu vaccination through pharmacy.

“Of the 95,000 vaccinated so far this year, 4 per cent are carers. This is a group who can find it difficult to find the time to get vaccinated. If they get ill, there is a risk to the person they are looking after, and so this is a big target group for the NHS,” she says.

Pregnant women are also particular targets for the flu vaccine. “More than 2 per cent of the 95,000 are pregnant women. A lot still work, and taking half a day off when they already have clinic appointments, it gets complicated, so pharmacy is a good access point for pregnant ladies. And women are used to coming to pharmacy.”

Benefits

The new national flu service for pharmacy has been said to have caused disquiet among some GPs. But Ms Shah suggests that this is a teething problem that will be resolved as time goes on.

“What we found in London was that we had similar issues when we first started out, but it all calmed down when people then understood the benefit in the service,” she says. “Next year everyone will be more aware, if this continues to be commissioned.”

In London, competition meant that GP practices were also more proactive, she says. “A little bit of healthy competition is not a bad idea. If it’s a bad winter this year and general practice is overwhelmed, our contribution will be appreciated. I think that if they look at the bigger picture, they will see the benefits.”

Private vaccinations being delivered through pharmacies are contributing to the overall picture too, says Ms Shah. She also feels that pharmacies could take on other vaccinations such as shingles and pertussis, and that, as well as now having the clinical skills, pharmacists are suitably up to standard with dealing with such vaccines.

“Pharmacists are used to having a fridge full of medicines, purchased at our own cost,” she says. “We are not lax with our systems and processes for cold-chain management – we can’t afford to be. Pharmacies are very capable of managing this.”

As well as the direct benefit to patients, the flu service is a springboard to the future. “Around the country, pharmacists are gaining the confidence they need, in being able to provide clinical services such as this. I think that the impact on other services and the willingness to get engaged is going to be huge. This can only bring benefit all round,” she says.

 

London: flu facts and figures 2014/15

  • ô€€€38 per cent of pharmacy vaccinations in 2013/14 were to individuals who had never had the flu vaccine before; a further 21 per cent of people in 2014/15 ô€€€
  • 25 per cent of people had their flu vaccination outside the area where they are registered with their GP ô€€€
  • 22 per cent of carers vaccinated in London were vaccinated at a pharmacy last year ô€€€
  • 1,000 people vaccinated were not registered with a general practice, and the opportunity was taken to encourage them to do so ô€€€
  • While flu vaccine uptake among eligible individuals did not increase in London during the 2014/15 season, it is argued that the pharmacy service helped to prevent a drop in uptake that was seen elsewhere nationally.
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