Optimising Flu Vaccine Uptake: A Guide for Primary Care Providers

What steps can primary care providers take to maximise the uptake of flu vaccination? The NHS is now offering free vaccination to eligible patients in England but careful planning is needed to ensure the flu vaccine programme is implemented effectively and achieves a high uptake.

In this post, I list some of the key steps in implementing flu vaccination in your practice. This guidance can also be used by primary care providers in other countries.

1. Give one member of the practice team responsibility for leading the vaccination programme, supported by the wider practice team.
2. Ensure staff are informed about the programme; including start dates, who is eligible and the benefits of vaccination for the individual patient, their family and society.
3. Prepare FAQs to common questions from patients. These are usually available on government websites such as those published by NHS England and the UKHSA. Ensure staff know where to look for these FAQs, which are essential in countering misinformation about flu vaccination.
4. Ensure medical records are as accurate as possible so that target groups for vaccination can be identified (e.g. to identify at risk people aged under 65 years eligible for vaccination).
5. Prime patients with information about vaccination before the programme starts, including start dates, who is eligible; and the benefits of vaccination for the individual, their family and society.
6. Use multi-channel communication to inform patients. Consider using a variety of media to inform patients as well as direct contact through text messages, phone calls, emails and letters: posters, leaflets, social media, and the practice's website. Different people prefer different methods of communication. Partnering with local businesses and employers can also help in contacting patients.
7. Be culturally sensitive, particularly if your practice is located in a diverse area. Use materials that are linguistically and culturally appropriate to cater to diverse populations, especially those who may not be fluent in English or are from different cultural backgrounds.
8. Provide accessible clinics for flu vaccination and also offer opportunistic vaccination to patients when they attend appointments at the practice for other reasons. To make it easier for working adults, consider extending clinic hours for vaccinations.
9. Monitor uptake in each target group. Contact those who have not come forwards for vaccination by text, email or telephone. Discuss the need for vaccination with patients in clinics. Implementing an automated system for sending reminders for upcoming vaccination appointments can be efficient and can lead to increased attendance.
10. Many patients will receive flu vaccines in other settings such as pharmacies and workplaces. Details of vaccinations at NHS sites should be sent to the practice automatically but this may not be the case for vaccinations given at workplaces. Contact patients to check their vaccination status by text or email and enter vaccinations on their medical record if given elsewhere. This will improve the data the NHS uses to monitor vaccine uptake and also ensures that patients are not sent unnecessary reminders.
11. Incentivise staff to achieve targets; and work with the patient participation group and other local community groups to increase vaccine uptake.
12. Develop a way for patients to provide feedback about their vaccination experience. This could be a short survey sent by email or available at the clinic. The feedback can provide valuable insights for improving the programme in the future. Also consider a post-campaign evaluation to understand what worked well and what didn’t. This information can be also help for planning future campaigns.

The same principles can be applied to other vaccination programmes delivered by the practice (e.g. childhood vaccinations, shingles) to maximise uptake.