1. 6 focus areas proven to optimise uptake
BEST PRACTICE
CHILDHOOD IMMUNISATION GUIDE
6 focus areas proven to optimise uptake

2. 6 focus areas proven to optimise uptake of immunisations
Strong leadership
Proactive promotion
Maintain accurate information
Effective call/recall
Maximise access and continuity
Trained and knowledgeable workforce

3. 1. Strong Leadership
Appoint a designated practice lead for immunisations (see Appendix 1)
Adopt a multi-disciplinary team approach
Discuss children/families who persistently miss appointments in practice meetings and routinely liaise with health visitors
Plan ahead
Strive for continuity of care

4. 2. Proactive Promotion
Promote vaccinations within the surgery, for example using national resources m_dh/public/home.jsf
Have conversation starters in reception e.g. the ‘MMR bear’

5. 3. Maintain accurate information
Maintain accurate immunisations records
Always check the immunisation status of new registrations (and share this information with CHIS – Child Health Information Service)
Send regular information to CHIS of children moving in and out, and any vaccinations given

6. Maintain accurate information (contd)
Routinely check the immunisation status and eligibility of all patients during health appointments
Schedule regular searches of the IT system (e.g. quarterly) to identify and follow up patients with outstanding immunisations or who have DNA’d (and their parents as appropriate) - ensure this is highlighted in the notes
Set up IT system alerts on patient records as a reminder to encourage parents if there are outstanding vaccinations

7. 4. Effective call/recall
Adopt a call–recall chain of escalation
Be flexible to patient needs
Minimise/eliminate vaccination waiting lists
Put in place a vaccination DNA management policy
Consider text messaging, ‘birthday cards’, ‘parties’ and other innovations

8. 5. Maximise access and continuity
Ensure clinics (and the practice as a whole) are child and family friendly
Review the immunisation clinics to see if improvements can be made (e.g. extended clinic/opening times, no waiting lists)
Maximise opportunistic vaccination – make every contact count

9. Maximise access and continuity (contd)
Ensure access to language and learning development support is readily available
Ensure sufficient vaccine stock, safe storage and availability during clinics
Keep the cold chain policy up- to-date
Be proactive about understanding and addressing barriers to access and inequalities – Appendix 3

10. 6. Trained and knowledgeable workforce
Ensure that all immunisers are up- to-date with training (and provide general immunisation training to reception staff) nfo-professional/public- health/training/
Remember your ‘8 Rs’ (Royal College of Nursing guidance) – Appendix 2
Train and develop staff that will be responsible for ensuring uptake is optimised
Use friendly competition

11. Trained and knowledgeable workforce (contd)
Sign up to Vaccine Update to be aware of any national issues or changes ns/vaccine-update
Save useful internet links as favourites so you can find them easily, such as the incomplete immunisation sheet ons/vaccination-of-individuals-with- uncertain-or-incomplete-immunisation- status

12. Support
Support
If you would like any support or more information, please contact the SW screening and immunisation team:

13. a practice lead for immunisations
Appendix 1: Appoint a practice lead for immunisations
a practice lead for immunisations  
The responsibilities of the practice lead should include (not limited to):

14. a practice lead for immunisations
Appendix 2:
Remember your
‘8 Rs’
a practice lead for immunisations  

15. Appendix 3: Inequalities
What are the needs of your local population – how would you find this out?
Who doesn’t attend/engage - how can you find out why?
What could the barriers to access be?
Inequalities are seen across a range of dimensions like: age, gender, ethnicity, disability, geography, socio-economic factors (wealth, education, language)
Specific groups may be more vulnerable such as people with learning disabilities, informal carers, looked-after children
How can the practice:
Improve access to services and information?
Engage communities?
Target specific groups?
Collect better data or evidence?
Be proactive: Prepare, Assess, Refine, Apply, Review!