News story: Healthcare worker flu vaccination figures published
Latest vaccination figures show 32.4% of frontline healthcare workers had influenza vaccinations in September and October 2015.
Figures published today (19 November 2015) by Public Health England (PHE), show that more than 312,000 frontline healthcare workers in England had a flu vaccination in September and October this year.
This compares to 36.8% of workers who were vaccinated in the same period in 2014 to 2015, and 35% of workers in 2013 to 2014.
Flu experts warn that more workers need to take up the vaccine to help protect themselves and vulnerable patients this winter and help save lives, while keeping NHS services running as normal.
Hospital surveillance in 2014 to 2015 reported a total of 1,187 admissions to intensive care and high dependency units due to lab confirmed flu across England, and 8.4% of these resulted in death.
The annual campaign to drive up NHS staff vaccination rates is called
flu fighter (@NHSflufighter, #flufighter). Run by NHS Employers and supported by the Department of Health and PHE, flu fighter is once again providing employers with all the resources they need to help their staff run lively local campaigns which promote vaccinations, answer questions and improve access to them. Flu fighter is now in its fifth year and has helped the NHS to increase frontline staff flu vaccinations from 359,080 (34.7%) in 2010 to 2011 to 541,757 (54.9%) by the end of last winter.
This year, for the first time, NHS Employers is also working with the residential care sector to identify how flu vaccination can become routine for care workers, identifying both challenges and examples of good practice. A
tailored set of campaign materials has been made available.
Public Health England
