Quality statement 4: Checking immunisation status at specific educational stages | Vaccine uptake in under 19s | Quality standards

Quality statement

Children and young people have their immunisation status checked at specific educational stages.

Rationale

Checking the immunisation status of children and young people at specific educational stages can identify gaps in vaccination. For children aged under 5 years, a healthcare professional, usually the health visitor, can check the child's immunisation status through the personal child health record (the 'red book'). This can be done together with childcare or education staff at key stages, such as when a child joins a preschool children's centre or starts primary school. For children and young people aged 5 to 19 years, immunisation checks can be done by school nursing teams or GP practices when the child or young person transfers to a new school or further educational setting.

Quality measures

The following measures can be used to assess the quality of care or service provision specified in the statement. They are examples of how the statement can be measured, and can be adapted and used flexibly.

Structure

Evidence of local arrangements to ensure that children and young people have their immunisation status checked at specific educational stages.

Data source: No routinely collected national data for this measure has been identified. Data can be collected from information recorded locally by provider organisations, for example from service pathways or protocols.

Process

a) Proportion of children aged under 5 years who have their immunisation status checked at preschool entry by a health visitor.

Numerator – the number in the denominator who have their immunisation status checked at preschool entry by the Healthy Child Programme team.

Denominator – the number of children aged under 5 years.

Data source: No routinely collected national data for this measure has been identified. Data can be collected from information recorded locally by healthcare professionals and provider organisations, for example from patient records.

b) Proportion of children aged 4 to 5 years who have their immunisation status checked at school entry.

Numerator – the number in the denominator who have their immunisation status checked at school entry.

Denominator – the number of children aged 4 to 5 years entering school.

Data source: No routinely collected national data for this measure has been identified. Data can be collected from information recorded locally by healthcare professionals and provider organisations, for example from patient records.

c) Proportion of children and young people aged 4 to 19 years who have their immunisation status checked when they transfer to a new school.

Numerator – the number in the denominator who have their immunisation status checked when they transfer to a new school.

Denominator – the number of children and young people aged 4 to 19 years transferring to a new school.

Data source: No routinely collected national data for this measure has been identified. Data can be collected from information recorded locally by healthcare professionals and provider organisations, for example from patient records.

d) Proportion of young people aged under 19 years who have their immunisation status checked at further educational setting entry.

Numerator – the number in the denominator who have their immunisation status checked at further educational setting entry.

Denominator – the number of young people aged under 19 years entering a further educational setting.

Data source: No routinely collected national data for this measure has been identified. Data can be collected from information recorded locally by healthcare professionals and provider organisations, for example from patient records.

Outcome

Vaccination coverage in under 19s.

Data source: The COVER programme features quarterly data on vaccination coverage for children aged up to 5 years in the UK.

What the quality statement means for different audiences

Service providers (for example, school nursing teams and child health teams) work with preschools, primary schools, secondary schools and further educational settings to ensure that children and young people have their immunisation status checked at specific educational stages.

Healthcare professionals (for example, nurses, health visitors and school nurses) ensure that they check the immunisation status of children and young people at specific educational stages.

Commissioners (for example, local authorities, clinical commissioning groups, integrated care systems and NHS England) ensure that they have school nursing services and child health teams who have specifications that require children and young people's immunisation status to be checked at specific educational stages.

Children and young people have their vaccination records checked by a health visitor or nurse at specific stages of their education, such as when they join a new preschool, start at a primary or secondary school, or start further education.

Source guidance

Vaccine uptake in the general population. NICE guideline NG218 (2022), recommendations 1.2.9 and 1.3.25