Great Ormond Street Hospital Flu Plan 2020/21

In light of the risk of flu and COVID-19 co-circulating this winter, the flu immunisation programme this year is more important than ever to protecting vulnerable people and supporting the resilience of the health system. For this reason we have been set an ambitious target of offering the flu vaccine to 100% of frontline staff, with an uptake of 75%.

NHS England (2020) together with Public Health England and The Department of Health and Social Care produces annual guidance on the national flu immunisation programme and eligibility for vaccination which includes the immunisation of front line health and social care workers. They state that immunisation of front line health and social care workers should be provided by their employer as part of the organisation’s policy for the prevention of the transmission of flu to help protect both staff and those that they care for.

The annual flu programme saves thousands of lives every year, and reduces GP consultations, hospital admissions and pressures on A&E. Vaccinating our staff is essential in protecting both our workforce (and their families), our patients and all visitors to our hospital and services. Information for staff on how to access vaccines on the GOSH site is available in appendix 2.

National figures on flu vaccine uptake from Public Health England (2020) uptake report an overall uptake figure of 74.3% for 2019-20. This represents a 4% improvement from 2018-19 (overall 70.3%) The flu immunisation programme for GOSH 2019-2020 achieved an overall compliance uptake of 58.7 % a reduction of 1.3% compared to the uptake of 60% 2018-19

The 2020-21 flu immunisation programme for GOSH staff will run from launch on 28th September 2020 until February/March 2021, as part of the national flu immunisation programme.

This year there is a requirement for all front line staff to be offered the vaccine. The offer and if accepted or declined must be recorded. This responsibility lies with the line manager to have this important conversation, encouraging individuals to accept the offer of a flu vaccine to protect themselves, their colleagues, patients and families. During this conversation the manager will signpost the employee as to where and how they can get the vaccination and record the outcome of the conversation; that is whether the employee will have the vaccine, or declines as well as if they will get the vaccine from the Trust or off site either through their GP, local pharmacy or another employer. This conversation will be recorded via an online flu questionnaire that will collate the outcomes and enable reporting by directorate.

The percentage uptake ambition for flu immunisation set by Public Health England (2020) for this year's campaign is 75%. The Hospital leadership have an ambition to significantly increase uptake of the flu vaccine.

The delivery of the immunisation programme to GOSH staff will be a multi component approach as recommended by NICE (2018) involving; site based flu leads, OH support (flu nurse facilitator and roving clinics) and peer vaccination programmes together with clear communications strategies and thorough record keeping of vaccines offered/administered and declined.

The Trust's Flu Plan can be downloaded below: