Routine childhood immunisations (0-5)
● Monthly reports: To view monthly reports of childhood immunisations in City & Hackney use the CEG dashboard tool
● Searches: The APL-Imms toolkit has been produced by CEG to support practices run searches for undervaccinated registered patients to support call/recall. Guidance on the tool and training videos are saved on the CEG website here.
● Practice support/Quality Improvement: For support with childhood immunisations at your practice, contact your borough’s Programme Manager Bryn White bryn.white@hackney.gov.uk, who will be happy to meet with practice staff, either via MS Teams or in person.
● Polio and MMR catch-up campaign (phase two) - The main ask of practices is to focus on those children aged one to four who are not fully vaccinated. If a child or adult presents at your practice unvaccinated, they should never be turned away (as per the GP contract). For more information see the GP letter.
The following vaccinations are due for those aged between 5 and 18 years old
● 11-13 years: HPV (protects against cancers cause by human papillomavirus [HPV], including cervical cancer in women, some head and neck cancers and anogenital cancers in both men and women)
● Around 14 years: Td/IPV and MenACWY (protects against tetanus, diphtheria, polio and meningitis ACWY respectively
Practices should note that the School Aged Immunisations Services (SAIS providers) deliver these vaccinations at schools. In City & Hackney Vaccination UK are leading on the flu and MMR/Polio catch up campaign delivery in school age children.
Practices will receive emails from the following address regarding vaccinations given by the SAIS providers. For more information contact: terrell.lindsay@vaccinationuk.co.uk.
Changes to the GP Contract 2023-24.
On 6 March 2023, NHS England announced changes to the GP Contract for 2023-24. Some of the following changes will impact on childhood immunisations:
● Following feedback from primary care networks (PCNs) and General Practitioners Committee (GPC) England, there will be changes to childhood vaccinations. These include the removal of the vaccination and immunisations repayment mechanism for practice performance below 80 per cent coverage for routine childhood programmes, along with changes to the childhood vaccination and immunisation indicators within the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF), which will see the lower thresholds reduced to 81-89 per cent (dependent on indicator) and the upper thresholds raised to 96 per cent.
The following changes have been made to childhood vaccinations:
● The removal of the vaccination and immunisation (V&I) repayment mechanism, removing the payment clawback for practice performance below 80 per cent coverage across the routine childhood programmes.
● Changes to the childhood V&I QOF indicators.
● Clarification of the wording in the Statement of Financial Entitlements (SFE) that an item of service (IoS) fee will be payable for vaccinations administered for medical reasons and incomplete or unknown vaccination status (evergreen offer) for the programmes outlined in the SFE Part 5 Vaccinations and Immunisation, section 19.
● The changes to the childhood vaccination and immunisation indicators within QOF will see the lower thresholds reduced to 89 per cent (VI001), 86 per cent (VI002) and 81 per cent (VI003), and the upper thresholds raised to 96 per cent. All the points for each indicator will be put into a sliding scale of reward between the lower and upper threshold. Reducing the lower thresholds will decrease the number of practices receiving no payment across the three indicators.
● A personalised care adjustment will also be introduced for patients who registered at the practice too late (either too late in age, or too late in the financial year) to be vaccinated in accordance with the UK national schedule (or, where they differ, the requirements of the relevant QOF indicator).
