ICS Award for Nottingham City and South Notts Place-Based Partnership teams!
We were delighted to see the Opportunistic Flu Vaccinations initiative win the Prevention Award at the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Integrated Care System Awards on 6th November 2024.
In 2022, clinicians from Nottingham city and South Notts PBP Secondary and Primary Care Interface Group discussed how NUH could offer flu vaccines at their city and QMC campuses to reach underserved communities with low vaccination rates. The project team was made up of PBP partners from NUH, ICB, NHSE, working closely with primary care.
The initiative intends to act as a ‘mop up’ to primary care clinics which have generally finished by December. Between December and March, after most flu clinics have finished, the teams used primary care data to identify patients who were unvaccinated and ‘matched’ this with NUH outpatient data. Patients then receive a text message the day before their outpatient appointment, giving them the opportunity to drop in to get their flu jab at one of the NUH vaccination hubs.
The project has run for two years. Last flu season, nearly 1,000 patients/carers received a vaccination at NUH after receiving a targeted text message. 83% of those vaccinated were in the under 65 ‘at risk’ category making them high risk of serious illness from flu due to pre-existing health conditions. Nearly 400 of those vaccinated last year, attended in March, indicating the ‘mop up’ approach is successfully engaging with people who would otherwise not seek a vaccination.
The project will enter its third year this year and we are hoping to see another increase in the numbered vaccinated. It’s a fantastic example of how working in partnership across primary and secondary care can improve health outcomes in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire.
We look forward to seeing how this project continues to evolve and help more people this flu season. Congratulations to everyone involved!
