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Flu Vaccination Advanced Service
The 2020/21 flu advanced service concluded on 31 March 2021.
The 2021/22 service is expected to commence from 1st September 2021 – further details to follow. Please refer to the PSNC Flu Vaccination Service hub for all the latest information and updates.
Flu Vaccine Ordering for 2021/22
On 1st April 2021 NHSE&I published updated guidance on flu vaccines for 2021/22 – see here.
This guidance provides information on the flu vaccines which will be reimbursable under the 2021/22 Flu Advanced Service, for the three cohorts (65 years and over, 50-64s and at-risk adults aged 18-64). This includes the addition of another vaccine to those which will be reimbursable – QIVr (Supemtek, Sanofi Pasteur).
It is important that all contractors that provide the Flu Vaccination Service review the contents of the letter and use the information contained within to inform their ordering of flu vaccine for the season ahead.
Read the NHSE&I letter on flu vaccines for the 2021/22 season here.
Other Briefing Documents and Resources
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Chapter 19 of the Immunisation Against Infectious Disease, “The Green Book”, can be downloaded here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/influenza-the-green-book-chapter-19.
Providing Vaccinations During the Pandemic
Providers will need to keep up-to-date with the latest Government guidance to help reassure patients that appropriate measures are in place to reduce the risk of contracting COVID-19 (Standard Operating Procedures in the context of COVID-19 have been issued and are available at:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/publication/standard-operating-procedure-community-pharmacy/)
Training Requirements for the National Flu Vaccination Service
Face to face training (to cover both injection technique and basic life support training, including administration of adrenaline for anaphylaxis) is required every THREE years. See the Flu Vaccination - Training Requirements and Resources page on the PSNC site here for further information, which includes a list of possible training providers.
This requirement ordinarily means (see COVID-19 update below) that a pharmacist who undertook face-to-face training for both injection technique and basic life support in 2017 would need to undertake face-to-face training in 2020 in order to continue to provide the service in 2020/21.
COVID-19 update: Public Health England has confirmed that anyone who has undertaken face to face vaccination training before and is due to undertake face-to-face training this year, can delay the face-to-face requirement until next year. Read more here. Anyone who has NOT previously trained however MUST undertake full training before commencing flu vaccination.
The Vaccination Services Declaration of Competence (DoC) must also be completed and this is required every TWO years.
In addition to completing the Vaccination Services DoC every two years, pharmacists providing the service have a professional responsibility to complete an annual update. This annual refresher training can be self-directed learning and need not be face-to-face training. This could, for example, include undertaking the assessment modules of an immunisation e-learning programme and doing/re-doing the necessary modules to refresh knowledge, reading through the ‘Information for healthcare practitioner’ documents on the PHE website, listening to any available webcasts and reading recently published articles on immunisation relevant to the area of practice. There is no stipulated way to do the annual update training but as a vaccinating pharmacist there is a professional obligation to ensure skills and knowledge are up to date.
For further information please refer to the PSNC page on training requirements for flu here. If you need any help with anything, please contact Lisa Meeks (lisa@cpwy.org) who will be happy to help.
Service Delivery Resources
Patient Leaflet - PHE, The Flu Vaccination 2020-21 (who should have it and why) Note - hard copies of this leaflet can be ordered free of charge and translated versions are also available – see https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/flu-vaccination-who-should-have-it-this-winter-and-why
Patient Leaflet - PHE Information for People with a Learning Disability (Easy Read)
Poster - PHE Flu Learning Disability Easy Read
Patient Video for People with Learning Disabilities
Patient Leaflet - PHE Information for People Aged 50-64 Years
Tear Off Appointment Slip / Flyer
Key facts about flu and flu vaccination - to support discussions with patients
Myth Buster - to support discussions with patients
Identifying carers for flu vaccination
CPWY Flu Poster - Heart Condition
Pharmacy Team Resources
This PSNC page contains additional information and resources for pharmacy teams.
Claiming Payment
All payments must be claimed via the NHSBSA Manage Your Service (MYS) portal; no paper-based claims process is available for the service. This year PharmOutcomes will be able to pre-populate claim information in MYS each month, so that the contractor then just needs to login to MYS at the start of the following month to confirm that the information is correct and then to submit the claim.
Claims will be accepted by NHSBSA within six months of administration of the vaccination or by 31st August 2021, whichever date is earlier, in accordance with the usual Drug Tariff claims process. Later claims will not be processed. See PSNC page on claiming payments here if further information is required.
Flu Collaboration
Frequently Asked Questions
The PSNC website is a great source of information and resources for pharmacy teams. This includes a useful Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and answers page which are updated on an ongoing basis:
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Last Updated: 9th April 2021