Agenda item

This presentation sets the scene and describes some of the interventions in place to improve the vaccination coverage in the borough.

Dr Nicola Lang (Director of Public Health) and Dean Linzey (Senior Lead Health Protection) gave a presentation which set the scene and described some of the interventions in place to improve vaccination coverage in the borough. The following points from the presentation were noted:

·      Low vaccination uptake for children and adults was a longstanding issue in H&F, with the lowest vaccination coverage in residents of Black Caribbean or Black African ethnicity, and those living in more deprived areas.

·      The borough was below the herd immunity standard for the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccination for children.

·      Vaccination rates were low generally and there was no ‘magic wand’ to fix this – instead the borough would have to make lots of marginal gains.

·      For flu vaccine take up in care home staff officers looked at why staff didn’t vaccinate and developed tailored interventions. Three years ago we had the worst performance in the country but last year it was the best. It showed we can make meaningful improvements.

·      Officers were working closely with residents to understand their experiences and improve access. There was an NHS roving team which delivered vaccinations in community settings, including asylum hotels. The borough had three pharmacies giving the MMR vaccination. Public Health also ran full-day in-person vaccine hesitancy training and members were welcome to attend.

·      Public Health also hosted a monthly vaccine and immunisations group which brought together stakeholders to look at performance, good practice, and share what works and how to target resources most effectively.

The Chair thanked officers for the update and said it was good to hear about the successes the team had achieved.

Councillor Amanda Lloyd-Harris said she was glad performance was heading in the right direction. She asked what the vaccine uptake had been in the asylum hotel mentioned earlier. Dr Nicola Lang said officers had been working with those communities. While it was sometimes difficult to establish vaccination status, they had been working with local GPs to enable catch-up vaccinations for new arrivals.

Councillor Lloyd-Harris asked if the Government had a view on inoculations for asylum seekers. Dr Nicola Lang said there were no port of entry health requirements in terms of vaccinations for asylum seekers. New GP registrations would check what vaccines new arrivals had and did catch-ups in a culturally competent way.

Jim Grealy said he was pleased to hear the direction of travel. He asked how Public Health was connecting with parents of school aged children.

Dean Linzey said from November a new organisation called Vax UK had been carrying out school vaccinations in a dynamic way that addressed people’s concerns. He noted that young people got most of their information about health on the internet and the team was trying to build services around their needs. That included developing young people as advocates to talk about vaccinations to their peers and parents.

Councillor Emma Apthorp asked for more information on the outreach training and who they wanted to complete it. Dr Nicola Lang said it was aimed at social care and health staff. They also had a family champion programme to skill up maternity volunteers to have those conversations.

The Chair asked what had worked so well in care homes to bring take up to the highest in the country. Dr Nicola Lang cautioned that the take up was still only 30% but that was the highest in England. She said it was achieved primarily by listening to people’s concerns and addressing them.

Dean Linzey said the main concerns were about staff getting sick and losing work. In addition to working with employers to address sickness concerns, they also delivered targeted training to help people understand vaccines work and their side effects – and sent a mobile vaccine unit directly to care homes. He added that the programme was still work in progress, but the evidence showed that significant improvements were possible.

The Chair thanked officers and members for their contributions.

RESOLVED

1. That the Health and Adult Social Care Policy and Accountability noted and commented on the report.