Quality standard

Quality statement 3: Information sharing

Quality statement 3: Information sharing

Quality statement

Non-general practice providers notify the relevant GP practice when they vaccinate their eligible patients.

Rationale

Timely, accurate and consistent recording of vaccination status in health records improves the accuracy of uptake figures and reduces unnecessary invites to people who have already had the vaccine. It is also important clinically, to avoid adverse events and inadvertently vaccinating a person twice. Accurate uptake figures help providers to plan future vaccination programmes and to meet their targets. Agreeing notification arrangements between commissioners and non-general practice providers means that GP practices receive information when their patients are vaccinated and allows them to maintain accurate records.

Quality measures

Structure

a) Evidence of local agreements for sharing information about flu vaccination status between non-general practice providers of flu vaccination and commissioners.

Data source: Local data collection, for example, data-sharing agreements.

b) Evidence that providers of flu vaccination give timely, accurate and consistent notification to GP practices when they vaccinate their eligible patients.

Data source: Local data collection, for example, data-sharing agreements.

c) Evidence of the use of audit and monitoring systems by providers within a local health economy to review uptake data or vaccination status in health records.

Data source: Local data collection, for example, annual reports.

d) Evidence of arrangements for GP practices to make timely, accurate and consistent updates to patient records with auditable codes when notified that their eligible patients have received flu vaccination from another provider.

Data source: Local data collection, for example, published data.

Outcome

Flu vaccine uptake in eligible groups.

Data source: Public Health England Seasonal flu vaccine uptake in GP patients annual data.

What the quality statement means for different audiences

Service providers (primary care services, secondary care services, pharmacies, providers of school aged immunisation, occupational health services) have written information-sharing protocols in place between themselves and GP practices so that health records have up-to-date information on patient flu vaccination status. Providers of flu vaccination should work with GP practices to ensure the information is shared in a timely, accurate and consistent way. GP practices should make timely, accurate and consistent updates to patient records with auditable codes. Providers have processes in place to ensure that the person's consent is obtained before their information is shared with their GP practice.

Health and social care practitioners (such as practice nurses, midwives, doctors, pharmacists, health visitors, social care practitioners and care workers) who give the flu vaccine in a setting other than a GP practice provide information on people's vaccination status to their GP practice in a timely and accurate way. They do this in line with established protocols and agreements, including obtaining the person's consent.

Commissioners (NHS England) commission flu vaccination services using service specifications that detail information-sharing protocols for notifying a person's GP practice when a person is vaccinated. They also ensure that services follow good practice for patient data management.

People who have the flu vaccine somewhere other than their GP practice are asked if their GP practice can be told that they have had their vaccination. This will mean that their GP has up-to-date records and they will not get more invitations to have the vaccine.

Source guidance

Flu vaccination: increasing uptake. NICE guideline NG103 (2018), recommendation 1.5.3

Definitions of terms used in this quality statement

Settings other than the GP practice

The flu vaccine may be given somewhere other than a person's GP practice, or by a healthcare practitioner who does not work at the person's GP practice. This can include receiving the vaccine in secondary care, at a community pharmacy, at school or through an employer's occupational health provider. [Adapted from NICE's guideline on flu vaccination: increasing uptake, recommendation 1.5.3, and the National flu immunisation programme 2019/20]

Eligible groups

People who are eligible for flu vaccination in the NHS, as outlined in Public Health England's Immunisation against infectious disease (known as the 'Green Book') and the National flu immunisation programme annual flu letter. For this quality standard, the eligible groups are:

  • children and adults aged 6 months to 64 years in a clinical risk group (as listed in the annual flu letter)

  • children and adults aged 6 months to 64 years in long-stay residential care homes

  • pregnant women

  • people receiving carer's allowance

  • close contacts of immunocompromised people

  • the main informal carer of an older adult or disabled person whose welfare may be at risk if the carer falls ill

  • children and young people aged 2 to 17 years who are not in a clinical risk group (as part of the ongoing phased roll-out of the flu vaccination programme for this age group).

[Adapted from NICE's guideline on flu vaccination: increasing uptake and Public Health England's Green Book, chapter 19: Influenza]