Agenda item

A verbal update will be given on uptake and barriers to vaccinations and screening in Leicester.

The immunisation lead in the ICB presented, and it was noted that:

·       A national vaccination strategy was published in December 2023. The key message was that covid should be learnt from, along with the use of resources and how this can be applied to vaccinations across the life course and seasonal programmes.

·       Many of the services discussed have been commissioned by NHS England as delegation is not occurring until April 2026. This deferral is to align with the screening delegation.

·       Important areas that have been considered have been to address differential health outcomes and differential vaccination uptake.

·       6 key priorities have been taken forward. These were the delivery of the National Vaccination Strategy; tackling health inequalities; improving maternity, childhood and adolescent vaccine uptake; implementing seasonal vaccines; responding effectively to surges and outbreaks; and rolling out new vaccines.

·       Uptake amongst pregnant women was 57%. This has been a challenge and has been affected by availability as there have been staffing shortages in antenatal clinics. Frequently meeting with UHL to address this and progress has been made.

·       A communications campaign has been ongoing, along with GP outreach work. NHS England has invited pregnant women to their GP practise for vaccines and community-based clinics are going to be offered starting in December.

·       The roving health care units are planned to start offering the whooping cough vaccine for pregnant women.

·       Children and young people have been another challenging area due to variation in uptake.

·       A neighbourhood level of differential uptake has been found. This has been a priority for practises in areas where there is low uptake as practise level data allows the identification of differential uptake. All Leicester practises want to prioritise childhood immunisations.

·       Whooping cough vaccine rates are at 90% in children, but this doesn’t compare to the national level.

·       There has been a decline in the uptake of the measles vaccine. Mapping of the different ways this has been accessed and the messages being communicated to the public have been assessed to help address this. Accepted that improving uptake needs to be a long-term approach.

·       The super vaccinator team has provided additional support in primary care allowing 83 extra shifts to be provided.

·       MMR uptake has started to increase. This has reflected the work that has been put into the area but it is recognised that it is early days.

·       There is ongoing work to increase the uptake of the HPV vaccine. Uptake has been worse in males. In females, uptake has ben 57%, however the target is 90% for elimination status by 2040.

·       There will be further work for improved access and uptake of HPV vaccine, including a whole systems approach with a workshop to take place in November.

·       Since the outbreak of measles, there has been an incident management team in place.

·       Barriers to uptake included access, theological issues and concerns, and the impact of social media and this has all informed the approach to how uptake is addressed moving forward.

In response to questions and comments from Members, it was noted that:

·       Improvements to the NHS app, including being able to view children’s vaccination status is potentially in the pipeline. This could be key in improving uptake.

·       Concerns have been expressed around vaccination side effects not being explained thoroughly. The Vaccine Hub has recently been launched which could provide better information moving forward.

·       There has been a lot of variation between practises in uploading patient records and vaccinations records.

·       A lack of consistency was identified in the vaccination offer between GP practises and local pharmacies. It was recognised GP surgeries have attempted to be proactive, but a joined-up offer could have more success.

·       There has been more flexibility for targeted funding since the measles and whooping cough outbreak. The ICB has committed to ring fencing the inequalities funding.

As part of discussions the Chair invited youth representatives to make comments and it was noted that:

·       Children and young people are often offered vaccines through schools.

·       The information for vaccinations has been available online but the information is lengthy and complex. NHS England is reprocuring this service for next September and work has been ongoing to consider new provision on this and how best to refresh the service.

·       Roving unit has gone into schools and universities to improve uptake.

·       More could be done to help young people take ownership and consent to vaccinations.

·       National curriculum could be updated to better inform young people. An article is going into the Lancet, potentially in November on this topic.

Agreed:

·       The Commission noted the report.